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Festina lente: Late-night thoughts on high-throughput screening of mouse behavior

Nature Neuroscience volume 7, pages 1175–1179 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

A recent perspective discussed high-throughput behavioral analysis using mice, giving the overall impression that this area is lagging behind in neuroscience and biomedical research. Not only are we more optimistic about the current state of the art in behavioral neuroscience and its promise, but we also have reservations about whether high-throughput analysis is always an appropriate goal for most behavioral studies. We argue that behavioral studies should be carried out with clear goals and more regard to the intellectual context in which they have developed. In addition, behavioral studies can be performed quite easily, but this does not ensure the required validity or reliability of the particular tests used. Finally, high throughput may not always be an appropriate goal. We discuss the role of automated data collection and unique data-mining algorithms, and the question of the ethological relevance of behavioral tests.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Phillips for comments. This work was funded by grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health, and by MRC Innovation and Programme Grants and an E.U. Framework V Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Portland Alcohol Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, and VA Medical Center (R&D 12), 3710 SW US Veterans Hospital Road, Portland, 97239, Oregon, USA

    John C Crabbe

  2. Division of Neuroscience, Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, Scotland, UK

    Richard G M Morris

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Correspondence to John C Crabbe.

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Crabbe, J., Morris, R. Festina lente: Late-night thoughts on high-throughput screening of mouse behavior. Nat Neurosci 7, 1175–1179 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1343

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