Elizabeth D. Kirby, an associate professor in The Ohio State University Department of Psychology, has helped launch a groundbreaking digital textbook on behavioral neuroscience. Published online in early November by OpenStax and funded by a National Science Foundation grant, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience expands access to foundational psychology coursework and, according to Kirby, is one of the first openly accessible, entry-level behavioral neuroscience textbooks available. She hopes it is not the last.

"The more open resources available for neuroscience education, the better," she said. 

Over the course of 19 engaging chapters, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience covers a wide range of behavioral neuroscience topics, such as the anatomy of the nervous system, neurochemistry, motor control and sensory perception. More than 20 expert faculty members from across the nation authored these sections, including Ohio State Emeritus Professor Gary Wenk. Kirby served as lead editor and worked alongside Melissa J. Glenn of Colby College, Noah J. Sandstrom of Williams College and Christina L. Williams of Duke University. 

In addition to a main text covering the breadth of topics typical of entry-level behavioral neuroscience courses, the book includes video interviews with authors, a multimedia section on common neurological techniques like fMRI and robust instructor tools such as lecture slides, a test bank and class group-based activities. Its illustrations are intentionally inclusive and designed diversify human representation in textbooks, where “monochromicity” has historically been a problem, Kirby said. Also notable is the involvement of students and postdoctoral fellows in the book’s production. For example, Ohio State undergraduate India Carter ’24 (neuroscience) led filming and production of author interviews, with assistance from the ASCTech Studio (now part of the university's Instructional and Research IT Support Services, or IRIS).

These unique features make Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience a potentially transformative contribution to the field, Kirby suggested – as does the fact that it is available to the public and completely free. Textbook costs can represent a barrier to education access, particularly for those with limited financial resources, she said, noting that the traditional textbook for Ohio State’s introductory behavioral neuroscience course costs about $100. Considering that approximately 1,000 students take the course annually, "that’s $100,000 spent each year by students to buy a book – a book many of them will not use again." While some universities have attempted to address textbook cost issues by developing their own textual resources, these are typically for internal use and hosted on university web pages, which have their own limitations, Kirby explained. 

The vision for Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience aligns with the mission of OpenStax, an initiative of Rice University that aims to improve educational access and remove barriers to learning, including through the production of high-quality, peer-reviewed, openly licensed college textbooks. Editor in Chief David Harris expressed his excitement about Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience, the publisher’s first NSF-supported title, and the importance of Kirby’s work. 

"This is an important and novel project for OpenStax since the free resource will be able to serve tens of thousands of students taking this course annually," he said. "[Kirby] led the development effort of a large team of scholars resulting in a resource that is relevant, up-to-date scientifically and provides a tremendous diversity of expertise."

Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience was made possible by an approximately $300,000 EAGER (EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research) award that Kirby received from the NSF in 2020. Funded by the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems within the foundation’s Biology directorate, the award covered author honorariums, illustration software, image reproduction permissions and the time of undergraduate students who were involved in the publication process. A $4,000 grant from the former Affordable Learning Exchange also assisted with image production costs.