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Your book has become a standard text for teaching behavioral neurobiology after its first publication in 2004. Why is the study of behavioral neurobiology important, and why is it especially important in this time?
Behavioral neurobiology is critically dependent upon a variety of biological disciplines. Many of these disciplines have experienced enormous atomization over the last few decades — although numerous discoveries have been made, most of them address very narrowly defined research aspects.
This development has accelerated in recent years with the advent of genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. Now, we can identify thousands of genes, transcripts, or proteins of an organism within a few weeks, and the costs to carry out this work have dramatically decreased over time.
Although these technological advances have led to the generation of an unprecedented amount of data, this flood of information does not answer automatically the central question of behavioral neurobiology: how does the nervous system control behavior? To get closer to an answer, we need to be able to integrate the numerous tiny pieces collected at the molecular, cellular, and systems level to draw a much bigger picture. It is particularly this integrative power that distinguishes behavioral neurobiology from most other biological disciplines, and that will make it especially important in the years to come. This is also the reason why I have added the subtitle “An Integrative Approach” to the book.
With this being the third edition of your book, what new content can the reader expect?
The new edition is the result of a comprehensive revision of the book, which took over four years and includes almost every single aspect of the book.
Besides updating the entire text and adding many new figures, the revision involved two major aspects. First, adding new topics and expanding existing topics. Second, designing new learning features that support the text.
Some of the exiting new topics in the new edition are the adaptation of insects to counteract bat echolocation; the formation of joint auditory-visual maps during development of barn owls; the sensory mechanisms and neural correlates of magnetoreception; and the significance of place cells in the formation of cognitive maps.
My own favorite topic during the work on the new edition was the development of bird song. I find it amazing to explore the neural basis of this ability of many songbirds. The young male birds listen to the songs of their fathers and create a template of these songs in their brains in the first year of life. Then, in the second year, they compare their own, initially rather crude, attempts to reproduce these songs with the song template stored in their brain. This research on vocal learning in birds bears also relevance to the development of language in humans.
The new learning features include, among others, a “Bigger Picture” section at the end of each chapter that links the chapter’s content to the wider field of research and applications. I felt that such a section is important because with so many pieces of information it can easily happen that one does not see the forest for the trees… The new learning features also extend to the Online Resources that can be freely accessed by students and lecturers. They include multiple choice questions for each chapter and “Journal Club” material, which provides ideas and references for those who would like to dig deeper into a topic.
A distinguishing feature of your textbook is that it takes a historical perspective on presenting the key concepts of behavioral neurobiology. Why do you think it is important to use such an approach in teaching this subject?
I strongly believe that we can understand the present only if we know the past, and that we can better prepare for the future if we draw lessons from history.
In behavioral neurobiology, like in any other scientific discipline, it is important for students not to simply accept knowledge as eternal truth but to understand where our current knowledge comes from, and to be aware of its limits. For example, I found it fascinating to learn how the idea of central control of rhythmic behaviors evolved over the past century. In the first half of the twentieth century, the vast majority of scientists were convinced that rhythmic movements are the result of a chain of reflexes. Only one lone wolf, Thomas Graham Brown in England, found evidence for autonomous centers in the spinal cord that control rhythmicity. However, his proposal of what is now known as the central pattern generator model became accepted only at the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, after his hypothesis had been rejected by the scientific community for most of his life.
Adding a historical perspective to the text is also a way to give proper credit to those who have pioneered research in behavioral neurobiology. We should not forget that we all stand on the shoulders of giants like Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, Karl von Frisch, and Ted Bullock, to name just a few. And it is also captivating to learn more about the lives of such pioneers ― how they have dealt with political oppression or economic uncertainties, how they made their breakthrough discoveries against any odds, and how their ideas were received (or sometimes ignored!) by contemporaries. These personal stories are told in the many biographical boxes added to the individual chapters.
Have you reflected on your own research in the book, or does it mainly cover the work of other investigators?
Much of my own research has centered around structural plasticity of the central nervous system, and how it relates to behavioral plasticity. This is an important aspect in behavioral neurobiology, which is studied by many of my colleagues. Therefore, one chapter of the book describes the phenomenon of neural plasticity, including the role of structural reorganization of neural networks in mediating behavioral plasticity.
However, while my own research experience has certainly helped me to develop a deep appreciation for research in general, it is important to emphasize that behavioral neurobiology owes its success to the enthusiasm, dedication, and work of many people. The text of the book reflects their contributions. And, by the way, it is not only Ph.D.-level scientists who have contributed to this success. Don Griffin, for example, was an undergraduate student when he made a seminal discovery — that echolocating bats produce ultrasound for orientation in the dark!
What advice can you give students who are interested in pursuing a career in behavioral neurobiology?
The career paths taken by accomplished behavioral neurobiologists are remarkably diverse. I believe that this diversity is not a mere accident but a source of opportunities that might not be available otherwise.
The most straightforward path for students to start their careers is to enroll in an undergraduate program in behavioral neuroscience, such as the one offered by my home institution, Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
However, prospective students might also want to keep in mind that many of the very best behavioral neurobiologists did not start their careers in this area, or in neuroscience or biology in general. They often majored in very different areas, such as physics, and some even outside of the sciences. When students apply for admission to college, I would recommend considering that a strong background in mathematics or physics or engineering might give them a competitive advantage. There is an increasing demand for researchers with skillsets acquired through the study of such disciplines. Just look, for example, at papers in which scientists describe their work on nonlinear dynamics of neurons or neural networks, and you understand what I mean!
A few years ago, I myself entered the field of mathematical and computational modeling to better appreciate the theory of neural plasticity. This expansion of my work would not have been possible if I had not studied physics, which I did after I had already received a master’s degree in biology. However, thirty years later, this investment has paid off — my laboratory is now able to combine wet-bench-type of research with theoretical studies.