
Gonny Smit
As a Marketing Communication Specialist, I get to read, write, and learn a lot about behavioral neuroscience. I spend my days creating anything from videos and blog posts to website and leaflet content. Outside of the office, I love spending time with my horse, working out, and traveling.

Don’t dwell on it… dive into zebrafish research!
I recently wrote about other translations from rodent studies to zebrafish, such as the investigation of learning and memory and social behavior. Now it’s time to talk about anxiety and exploration.

The search for autism models continues - why rats are important
Autism (ASD) continues to be an important topic in scientific research. Although finding the actual cause of ASD is still years away, there have been several studies that point to a strong genetic component.

Drunken mice get aggressive on Alzheimer’s drugs
Will there ever be a cure for alcoholism? Well, some laboratory studies show that certain drugs might stop the cravings. But they might also cause serious side-effects such as aggressive behavior.

A story of dogs and dolls
When finding the right dog for yourself, you probably won’t choose an aggressive one, will you? You don’t want it to attack your friends, kids, or other dogs. You could try using a temperament test, but how reliable are they?

Sex preference and other social aspects of zebrafish behavior
Social behavior is a well-known topic of neuroscience research, since it is so often affected in psychiatric disorders. Think of obvious examples such as schizophrenia and autism.

Time is of the essence - how you can use it in gait analysis
I have written two blog posts about static gait parameters. Now it’s time to talk about all four paws, and the time based relationships between them. If you ask me, we’ve been saving the best blog post for last!

Going the distance - and why it matters in gait analysis
A footprint, that is. With CatWalk XT, you can extract a lot of information from just one footprint. In this post, I am taking it a step further by talking about the relationship between prints.

What a print can tell
So what can one footprint tell you? Well, it could tell you a lot. Simply putting the paw in ink and studying the print left behind is one way to go about it, but there are far more sophisticated ways of footprint analysis.

What we can learn from zebrafish in a T-maze
Scrolling through our recent blogs, you can tell how important zebrafish have become in behavioral research. So we thought it was time to tell you a little more about some popular paradigms. Starting with the T-maze.

Horse training methods: The importance of behavioral analysis
In equitation sciences, there are at least two training strategies: the ‘natural’ way of horsemanship that allows the horse to evaluate action and reaction and horsemanship that is based on ‘overruling’ of the animal.