What is behavioral neuroscience?

Behavioral neuroscience is a contemporary discipline stemming from physiological psychology. This field utilizes biological principles to research and study the behavior of human beings and other animals. Unlike other forms of psychology or biology, behavioral neuroscience researchers often disable, temporarily or permanently, some aspect of an animal’s central nervous system to test theories. For example, making lesions on the sensorimotor processing region of a mouse’s brain can help researchers to understand how its behavior and brain function is affected when that part of the brain altered. Similarly, studying humans with dementia can help researchers understand Alzheimer’s or other memory diseases better.