ABSTRACT
There may be a problem of specificity when drugs are used as research tools to study brain mechanisms that sub-serve behaviour. Some of the problems of non-specificity of the techniques used to experimentally manipulate the central nervous system can be avoided by using a different research strategy—recording or monitoring an appropriate physiological or other biological parameters in a behaving animal. This research strategy has been used most extensively to relate the activity of single neurons of the hypothalamus and associated structures to motivated behaviour. The investigation of the neural substrates of behaviour promises to be one of the most fascinating and fruitful fields of research in neuroscience. The measurement of an operant response is widely used in laboratory studies of behaviour, because quantitative and highly reliable measures can be obtained. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
