神经科学与行为研究生课程在当代行为和系统神经科学的基础研究与实践实验室培训之间取得平衡。该计划的主要目的是帮助学生了解大脑与行为的关系，并特别关注确定对人类和动物行为重要的生物学机制。在UCSB，教师的兴趣可以分为三个主要研究领域：视觉神经科学，行为神经科学和心理药理学。在这三个专业的子领域中，教师的背景和专业知识的变化为学生提供了探索各种研究课题的机会，例如：彩色视觉的生物学，神经回路的发展和可塑性，细胞结构和神经递质系统，成人神经发生的控制，动机行为的神经内分泌和生物心理学分析，药物奖励和依赖性的神经
The graduate program in Neuroscience and Behavior offers a balance between basic research and practical laboratory training in contemporary behavioral and systems neuroscience. The primary aim of the program is to help students gain an understanding of brain-behavior relationships with particular interest in identifying the biological mechanisms important for human and animal behavior. At UCSB, the faculty interests can be categorized into three broad subareas of research: visual neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, and psychopharmacology. Within these three subareas of specialization, the varying backgrounds and expertise of the faculty provide the student with an opportunity to explore such diverse research topics as: the biology of color vision, the development and plasticity of neural circuitry, cytoarchitecture, and neurotransmitter systems, the control of adult neurogenesis, the neuroendocrinological and biopsychological analysis of motivated behavior, the neurobiology and neurochemistry of drug reward and dependence, and animal models of the neurobiological bases of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.