ArticlePloS one2020
Repeatability analysis improves the reliability of behavioral data.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the development and application of home cage monitoring in laboratory mice and rats.BMC biology · 2023Pooled it
- Dynamical modeling of individual sensory reactivity and habituation learning.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Operant behavior is reliably impaired in a mouse model of Angelman syndrome.Research square · 2026Article
- The Presence of a Shelter in an Open Field Test Has Differential Effects on the Behavior and Stress Response of Two Mouse Species.Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2025Article
- Transient cortical beta-frequency oscillations associated with contextual novelty in high density mouse EEG.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Reporting checklists in neuroimaging: promoting transparency, replicability, and reproducibility.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- A note on dairy cow behavior when measuring enteric methane emissions with the GreenFeed emission monitoring system in tiestalls.JDS communications · 2024Article
- Partially divided caging reduces overall aggression and anxiety which may indicate improved welfare in group housed male C57BL/6J mice.BMC veterinary research · 2024Article
- Lockbox enrichment facilitates manipulative and cognitive activities for mice.Open research Europe · 2024Article
- Blueprints for measuring natural behavior.iScience · 2022Review
- Deep phenotyping reveals movement phenotypes in mouse neurodevelopmental models.Molecular autism · 2022Article
- Sex and Population Drive Interindividual Variations in a Cognitive Task Across Three Populations of Wild Zebrafish.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Measuring Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Rodent Models of Traumatic Brain Injury.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Review
- HypothalamicFrontiers in physiology · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Reliability of data has become a major concern in the course of the reproducibility crisis. Especially when studying animal behavior, confounding factors such as novelty of the test apparatus can lead to a wide variability of data which may mask treatment effects and consequently lead to misinterpretation. Habituation to the test situation is a common practice to circumvent novelty induced increases in variance and to improve the reliability of the respective measurements. However, there is a lack of published empirical knowledge regarding reasonable habituation procedures and a method validation seems to be overdue. This study aimed at setting up a simple strategy to increase reliability of behavioral data measured in a familiar test apparatus. Therefore, exemplary data from mice tested in an Open Field (OF) arena were used to elucidate the potential of habituation and how reliability of measures can be confirmed by means of a repeatability analysis using the software R. On seven consecutive days, male C57BL/6J, BALB/cJ and 129S1/SvImJ mice were tested in an OF arena once daily and individual mouse behavior was recorded. A repeatability analysis was conducted with regard to repeated trials of habituation. Our data analysis revealed that monitoring animal behavior during habituation is important to determine when individual differences of the measurements are stable. Repeatability values from distance travelled and average activity increased over the habituation period, revealing that around 60% of the variance of the data can be explained by individual differences between mice. The first day of habituation was significantly different from the following 6 days. A three-day habituation period appeared to be sufficient in this study. Overall, these results emphasize the importance of habituation and in depth analysis of habituation data to define the correct starting point of the experiment for improving the reliability and reproducibility of experimental data.
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