RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Big Behavioral Data: Psychology, Ethology and the Foundations of Neuroscience JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 006809 DO 10.1101/006809 A1 Alex Gomez-Marin A1 Joseph J. Paton A1 Adam R. Kampff A1 Rui M. Costa A1 Zachary F. Mainen YR 2014 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/07/02/006809.abstract AB Behavior is a unifying organismal process where genes, neural function, anatomy and environment converge and interrelate. Here we review the current state and discuss the future impact of accelerating advances in technology for behavioral studies, focusing on rodents as an exemplar. We frame our perspective in three dimensions: degree of experimental constraint, dimensionality of data, and level of description. We argue that “big behavioral data” presents challenges proportionate to its promise and describe how these challenges might be met through opportunities afforded by the two rival conceptual legacies of 20th century behavioral science, ethology and psychology. We conclude that although “more is not necessarily better”, copious, quantitative and open behavioral data has the potential to transform and unify these two disciplines and to solidify the foundations of others, including neuroscience, but only if the development of novel theoretical frameworks and improved experimental designs matches the technological progress.