Model Behavior: Animal Experiments, Complexity, and the Genetics of Psychiatric Disorders

by Nicole C. Nelson

Mice are used as model organisms across a wide range of fields in science today—but it is far from obvious how studying a mouse in a maze can help us understand human problems like alcoholism or anxiety. How do scientists convince funders, fellow scientists, the general public, and even themselves that animal experiments are a good way of producing knowledge about the genetics of human behavior? In Model Behavior, Nicole C. Nelson takes us inside an animal behavior genetics laboratory to examine how scientists create and manage the foundational knowledge of their field.

Behavior genetics is a particularly challenging field for making a clear-cut case that mouse experiments work, because researchers believe that both the phenomena they are studying and the animal models they are using are complex. These assumptions of complexity change the nature of what laboratory work produces. Whereas historical and ethnographic studies traditionally portray the laboratory as a place where scientists control, simplify, and stabilize nature in the service of producing durable facts, the laboratory that emerges from Nelson’s extensive interviews and fieldwork is a place where stable findings are always just out of reach. The ongoing work of managing precarious experimental systems means that researchers learn as much—if not more—about the impact of the environment on behavior as they do about genetics. Model Behavior offers a compelling portrait of life in a twenty-first-century laboratory, where partial, provisional answers to complex scientific questions are increasingly the norm.

Genres: Science

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 31, 2024

Reviews

[Pınar Toptaş · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being repetitive sometimes, the book is well-written with a unique approach to animal research/ers. The writer lays out numerous limitations of scientific outputs coming from animal research, along with discussing how researchers deal with them.

I believe it would be good practice for researchers of the field to take a look at this book and be humbled by the complexity of animal behavior.

[K.A. Ashcomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book out of whim when I saw it on a book blog. I expected it to be a recount of mice studies and what scientist are doing on the field. It was a surprise that this was an anthropological study about a mice laboratory. I didn't mind.

At the beginning of the book, it took time to adjust back to how academical studies are presented and written. This slowed me down, but I soon got the hang of it. Don't get me wrong the book is well written and easy to approach.

The book concentrated on a Coastal laboratory and the issues which arose there. I found fascinating to read about the workers personal accounts and what they thought about laboratory work, working with mice (with different personalities), the importance of their work, restrictions they face, and so on. This book gave a great insight into what working in a mice laboratory can be. It was eye-opening to learn the reasons behind strictly controlled animal research. And no the answer isn't the dominance of environment, it is about the ability to isolate factors and study them. After reading about the studies (alcoholism and anxiety), the best thing I took out of the book was that neither environment nor genetics determine our behavior. They both have a role in our lives. This is a less sexy answer than any determinist view and thus ignored on our press (not always.) On the bright side, now we get to blame them both.

Throughout the book, the question of animal testing came out. If we can say so little with certainty and if you can't make a straight allegory between mice and men, then why do we do it? Why we put millions of our money into getting mice drunk and stoned when the answers are at best it might be, we need more testing or more than often the research is rebutted by another duplicated study? Is there no alternative way now? Maybe someday testing can be done on a cellular level with no need for a live specimen, but behavior studies are a different matter. You can't go so far with statistics, but then again how does mice's behavior compare to ours? I hope someday the mice can retire to their rehab centers to live active unaltered lives.

This is a good book. If you have time, I recommend you pick it up and read it. The book shows what goes into laboratory research and science behind some claims we find misinterpreted on our news. I think this is a book everyone should read.

Thank you for reading!

P.S. Fittingly this is my 42. book review.

[Laura Gittens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is well-written, informative and funny. A new approach to looking at and thinking about research. The author gives insight into who and how research is collected and interpreted. Filled with personal insights and anecdotal tales this book is a must read for all scholars.