Call for Papers: “Animal Behavior and Mental Illness”

In the last decade, multiple scientific work groups have studied the development, biological basis, and maintenance of psychopathological symptoms in animal models, that is, mostly in mutant mice. Most clinical observations and psychopathological symptoms in humans can be linked to basic neurobiological, experimental, behavioral, and interventional observations in animals. Although several experimental models are available, they often draw scepticism, especially from clinicians but also from basic researchers. The influence of genetic mutations on a specific behavioral trait in mice has thereby led to diverse hypotheses regarding the genetic basis of human behavior. However, modeling of human psychiatric disorders in animals is extremely challenging given the subjective nature of many symptoms, the lack of biomarkers, and objective diagnostic tests. Moreover, the circumstances in which animals are handled in a laboratory are far from a normal physiologic environment. Sickness behavior (as caused by genes connected with inflammation, pain, weight loss, etc.) or drug-induced side effects (as caused by animal models based on psychotomimetic drugs) might confound psychiatric symptoms. Nonetheless, progress in understanding the pathophysiology and the development of new medications benefit greatly from improved animal models. Several psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits seem identical in mice and men (e.g., depression, anxiety, addiction), while others have been indirectly studied by biological endophenotypical traits (schizophrenia, dementia, autism).

The purpose of this topical issue of the Zeitschrift für Psychologie is to critically review recent progress of preclinical research and highlight some of the most interesting topics and themes in animal research to diversify and improve discovery end points for preclinical psychiatric research. We therefore invite the submission of abstracts on empirical, theoretical, and original papers dedicated to animal models and mental illness with emphasis on the following issues:

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  Helplessness – a translational model with relevance to understanding and treating depression.
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  Neuroendocrinology of social cognition, motivation, and behavior in animals and humans.
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  Animal models of anxiety disorders in rats and mice – conceptual issues, news from signaling cascades, and new therapeutic challenges.
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  Animal models of Alzheimer’s disease – impact on therapy and understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease.
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  Glucose sensing – from gut to brain.

We invite scholars from various disciplines such as clinical, biological, or cognitive psychology, medicine, and neuroscience to submit their abstracts for potential papers electronically to: Undine Lang (mailto:undine.lang@upkbs.ch)

How to submit: Interested authors should submit a letter of intent including: (1) a working title for the manuscript, (2) names, affiliations, and contact information for all authors, and (3) an abstract of no more than 500 words describing the content of the proposed manuscript. In addition to original and review articles, the journal also encourages the submission of short reports and opinion pieces.

There is a two-stage submissions process. Initially, interested authors are requested to submit only abstracts of their proposed papers. Authors of the selected abstracts will then be invited to submit full papers. All papers will undergo blind peer review.

• Deadline for submission of abstracts is June 15, 2014.
• Deadline for submission of full papers is October 15, 2014.

The journal seeks to maintain a short turnaround time, with the final version of the accepted papers being due by February 15, 2015. The topical issue will be published as issue 3 (2015).

For additional information, please contact the guest editor.

General Information About the Journal

The Zeitschrift für Psychologie, founded in 1890, is the oldest psychology journal in Europe and the second oldest in the world. One of the founding editors was Hermann Ebbinghaus. Since 2007 it is published in English and devoted to publishing topical issues that provide state-of-the-art reviews of current research in psychology.

For detailed author guidelines, please see the journal’s website at www.hogrefe.com/journals/zfp/