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Neuroethology and cognitive neuroscience

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The mechanisms underlying behavior are also represented in the workings of the central nervous system. In fact, Tinbergen often used neural analogies and metaphors in his models of behavior. We shall see in Chapters 2 and 5 how the central nervous system obtains and processes information about its external world. As knowledge about the brain, both its gross and fine-level morphology as well as the way its neurons are connected, led to increased interface between brain and behavior a new subdiscipline arose that is called neuroethology (Ewert 1980; Chapter 2). In the early days of this new discipline, researchers concentrated on the study of the neural mechanisms of perception and movement, often in insects or simple vertebrates. More recently the study of the brain mechanisms of behavior is also directed at higher cognitive processes such as learning and memory or spatial orientation. Often, the terms behavioral neuroscience or cognitive neuroscience are used to describe these disciplines. Now, the combination of an extraordinary array of powerful techniques from electrophysiological recording to molecular analyses of RNA sequences allows researchers to delve deeper into the connection between behavior and its neural substrate (Chapters 5 and 9).

The Behavior of Animals

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