Measuring behaviour in rodents: towards translational neuropsychiatric research

Abstract

Rodent behavioural tasks are indispensable to advance the understanding of gene × environment interactions in neuropsychiatric disorders and the discovery of new therapeutic strategies. Yet, the actual translation of rodent data to humans, and thereby the understanding of the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders is limited. The main reason for the translational flaw is that many behavioural tasks for rodents are based on face or predictive validity, whereas these types of validity often lack a pathophysiological basis. Furthermore, many behavioural tasks for rodents do not implement human task parameters or use task parameters in a controlled manner, whereas they are parameters that provide the environmental challenges to test gene function. The aim of this perspective is to address the status quo of behavioural tasks for rodents, their limitations and their strengths, and the reasons why they could lead to suboptimal translational research. I also suggest an approach to come closer to neuropsychiatric behavioural tasks for rodents, namely a more careful implementation of human task parameters and subdivision of behaviour into perceptional, motivational, activational and switching domains. Finally, I will touch upon behavioural tasks for rodents that are currently lacking and needed to catch up neuropsychiatric research.