Research data · Brain technique
In vivo electrophysiology
From 2021 to 2025, 335 animal research papers mentioned in vivo electrophysiology and at least one behavioral test.
That is 1.9 times the 173 papers of 2011 to 2015. Between the same two periods, all the animal research papers that mention any of the 90 tests we count grew more slowly, to 1.2 times as many.
The tests mentioned with in vivo electrophysiology
Each bar is one test, with how many of the 335 papers from 2021 to 2025 mention it, and what share that is. A paper that mentions two tests counts under both.
The 15 tests these papers mention most
All 58 tests these papers mention
| Test | Papers | Share of the 335 papers |
|---|---|---|
| Fear conditioning | 40 | 12% |
| Novel object recognition | 36 | 11% |
| Open field | 33 | 10% |
| Elevated plus maze | 25 | 7% |
| Operant conditioning | 24 | 7% |
| Y-maze | 24 | 7% |
| Morris water maze | 21 | 6% |
| Conditioned place preference | 18 | 5% |
| Forced swim test | 17 | 5% |
| Self-administration | 15 | 4% |
| Treadmill running | 15 | 4% |
| T-maze | 15 | 4% |
| Von Frey test | 12 | 4% |
| Object location test | 11 | 3% |
| Tail suspension test | 10 | 3% |
| Three-chamber sociability test | 9 | 3% |
| Social interaction test | 9 | 3% |
| Sucrose preference test | 8 | 2% |
| Rotarod | 8 | 2% |
| Prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle | 8 | 2% |
| Barnes maze | 8 | 2% |
| Light-dark box | 6 | 2% |
| Novelty-suppressed feeding | 6 | 2% |
| Wheel running | 6 | 2% |
| Touchscreen operant tasks | 5 | 1% |
| Passive avoidance | 5 | 1% |
| Skilled reaching | 4 | 1% |
| Formalin test | 4 | 1% |
| Catalepsy bar test | 4 | 1% |
| Elevated zero maze | 4 | 1% |
| Olfactory tests | 4 | 1% |
| Gait analysis | 4 | 1% |
| Learned helplessness | 3 | 1% |
| Grip strength | 3 | 1% |
| Grid walking (foot fault) | 3 | 1% |
| Predator odor exposure | 3 | 1% |
| Resident-intruder test | 3 | 1% |
| Marble burying | 3 | 1% |
| Cylinder test | 3 | 1% |
| Nest building | 3 | 1% |
| Five-choice serial reaction time task | 2 | 1% |
| Acetone test | 2 | 1% |
| Rotational behavior (rotometer) | 2 | 1% |
| Attentional set shifting | 2 | 1% |
| Social approach and avoidance | 2 | 1% |
| Looming stimulus | 2 | 1% |
| Tube test for social dominance | 2 | 1% |
| Real-time place preference | 2 | 1% |
| Self-grooming | 2 | 1% |
| Runway | 1 | under 1% |
| Active avoidance (shuttle box) | 1 | under 1% |
| Radial arm water maze | 1 | under 1% |
| Step-down avoidance | 1 | under 1% |
| Radial arm maze | 1 | under 1% |
| Ladder rung walking | 1 | under 1% |
| Hargreaves plantar test | 1 | under 1% |
| Plus maze for place and response learning | 1 | under 1% |
| Hot plate | 1 | under 1% |
Tests named in 30 or more of these papers link to a page on that test with in vivo electrophysiology. To count the papers that mention two or more tests together, use the test battery tool.
Papers by year
Animal research papers that mention in vivo electrophysiology and a behavioral test, by year, 2001 to 2026
The 2026 bar counts papers added to PubMed by November 8, 2026.
- Papers in a full year
- 2026 so far
Show the counts for each year
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 7 |
| 2002 | 11 |
| 2003 | 10 |
| 2004 | 7 |
| 2005 | 19 |
| 2006 | 14 |
| 2007 | 18 |
| 2008 | 7 |
| 2009 | 28 |
| 2010 | 29 |
| 2011 | 31 |
| 2012 | 24 |
| 2013 | 29 |
| 2014 | 39 |
| 2015 | 50 |
| 2016 | 41 |
| 2017 | 56 |
| 2018 | 37 |
| 2019 | 58 |
| 2020 | 51 |
| 2021 | 67 |
| 2022 | 52 |
| 2023 | 70 |
| 2024 | 64 |
| 2025 | 82 |
| 2026 (part year) | 68 |
Papers that mention in vivo electrophysiology and a test fell from 67 in 2021 to 52 in 2022, then rose to 82 in 2025. Part of this dip may come from PubMed's indexing rather than from fewer studies. We take a paper's species from PubMed's indexing when the indexing names one. Otherwise PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, has to find a species in the title or abstract, or the paper is not counted. Papers that PubMed indexed under the subject heading Animals also fell and rose, from 200,221 in 2021 to 156,447 in 2023 and 235,479 in 2025.
Disease models in papers that mention in vivo electrophysiology
Each bar is one disease model, with how many of the 335 papers from 2021 to 2025 are tagged with it, and what share that is. The model comes from the paper's MeSH terms, the subject headings the National Library of Medicine adds when it indexes a paper. A paper without MeSH terms gets its model from PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, if PubTator 3 finds the disease in the title or abstract. A paper can count under more than one model.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 by disease model
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 335 papers from 2021 to 2025. A paper can use more than one species, so the shares can add to more than 100%.
Species
“Other animals” counts papers that use none of the species this chart names.
NIH funding
76 of the 335 papers (23%) had NIH funding. NIMH, the National Institute of Mental Health, funded the most, 30 of them. A paper counts as NIH-funded when its PubMed record lists an NIH grant, or when NIH RePORTER links it to an NIH project.
NIH-funded papers by institute
Each share is of the NIH-funded papers. A paper with grants from two institutes counts under both.
The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025
These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention in vivo electrophysiology and a behavioral test and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.
J Neuroinflammation, 2023. 119 citations.
Nat Commun, 2022. 77 citations.
Stroke, 2022. 71 citations.
Central amygdala micro-circuits mediate fear extinction.
Nat Commun, 2021. 65 citations.
Convergent Coding of Recent and Remote Fear Memory in the Basolateral Amygdala.
Biol Psychiatry, 2022. 45 citations.
How we counted
A paper counts here when it is animal research and its title or abstract mentions in vivo electrophysiology and at least one of the 90 behavioral tests. A count is a number of papers, not of experiments, labs or animals. A paper that mentions in vivo electrophysiology only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low.
A paper is animal research when its MeSH terms name an animal species. If they name none, NCBI's text-mining service PubTator 3 has to find one in the title or abstract. Papers on animals other than mice, rats, zebrafish, flies and primates count only when they also mention a test. Many of them study people or use the same words for something else.
The search terms for in vivo electrophysiology are in the download Animal models and brain techniques. The counts in the chart of tests are in Tests mentioned with each model or technique. The full method, with each source and its terms of use, is on our main page, Behavioral tests in published research.
More brain techniques
Each brain technique with 100 or more papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention a test has a page. These are the others, each with that count.
- Intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection 706 papers
- AAV vectors 546 papers
- Chemogenetics (DREADDs) 505 papers
- Optogenetics 443 papers
- Intranasal delivery 299 papers
- EEG and ECoG 265 papers
- Intrathecal injection 257 papers
- Fiber photometry 177 papers
- Transcranial stimulation 152 papers
- Microdialysis 133 papers
How to cite
APA
ConductScience. (2026, November 13). Behavioral tests with in vivo electrophysiology [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/resources/data/brain-techniques/in-vivo-electrophysiology
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_in_vivo_electrophysiology_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Behavioral tests with in vivo electrophysiology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/resources/data/brain-techniques/in-vivo-electrophysiology},
note = {Data set, released November 13, 2026},
}Equipment in our store
For studies with in vivo electrophysiology, our store sells:
Apparatus for the tests
Our store sells apparatus for all the 10 tests these papers mention most.
