Steffen van Heijningen

Steffen van Heijningen

As a trained behavioral neuroscientist, I share my expertise with Noldus and in this way contribute to the scientific community. I write blogs, white papers and give talks during webinars. I live on the beautiful island of Curaçao, my home town, where I enjoy my free time on the water with my familiy and friends.

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5 Animal blogs not about Rats, mice or zebrafish

The scope of measuring behavior goes beyond rats, mice and (zebra)fish. As behavioral experts we love to also highlight research in animals such as mites, elephants, dolphins and shrimps.
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Tracking tiny transparent fish with EthoVision XT

Danionella cerebrum, a recently discovered cyprinid fish, has the smallest known vertebrate brain. What are the behavioral differences or similarities to their zebrafish relatives?
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Using video tracking to study operant behavior in rodents

What is operant behavior? And how can we use software such as EthoVision XT to increase our understanding in the learning and memory processes involved in these studies?
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The social interaction test: effortless and dependable with EthoVision XT

What is the social interaction test? This blog dives into this topic for fish and rodents. Why is social interaction important to measure, and how do we go about doing it?
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Guest blog: Having a look at operant behavior

Scientists from Idorsia Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland provide an expert view on operant behavior, and how we can improve our understanding of this complex behavior with the help of video tracking.
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Behind the scenes at MARIN: research into human decision making

One of the world's leading maritime research institutes: MARIN, took us on a tour in their ship bridge simulator. A great customer success story that highlights the importance of human factor research.
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Behavioral neuroscience in the circular economy: the contribution of Zebrafish

What do Zebrafish and sewage sludge have in common? In this blog their use as a screening tool is highlighted to asses the ecotoxicity in soil.
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3 high impact papers about measuring anxiety in the Elevated Zero Maze

The elevated zero maze (EZM) is a variation on the elevated plus maze (EPM) and was created to eliminate the center region of the EPM. This blog highlights 3 studies that use the EZM to test for anxiety-like behavior
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What is the Barnes maze? A dry-land environment for testing learning and memory

The Barnes maze is a behavioral paradigm for testing learning and memory in rodents models for autism spectrum disorder, Alzheimer’s disease and ageing. How does it compare to the Morris water maze?
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Citizen science in research: studying contaminated drinking water with zebrafish

Local residents, students and scientists joined forces to investigate harmful contaminants in drinking water wells in New England. Behavioral effects of these contaminants were studied in zebrafish.