Human Brain and Behavior in the Geospatial Context: Why and How

This chapter introduces the concept of “digital ethology,” as envisioned during the Ernst Strüngmann Forum convened in July 2022. By “digital ethology,” we mean the observation of human behavior in the “wild,” that is behavior unfolding in its natural context and without interference by the observer. We focus on the “digital footprints” left by our behavior at the area level (neighborhoods, cities, counties) and on the constraints of human behavior by the surrounding physical and built environments modeled from digital sources. We point out the potential of linkages between the area-level characteristics of our physical, built, and social environments and individual-level (health) outcomes, with the latter captured in administrative health databases and large community-based cohorts. In this way, we see digital ethology as a conceptual and practical framework complementing population neuroscience.