ATXN1 and Anxiety: Full loss of ATXN1 resulted in slightly decreased anxiety in Atxn1 null mice compared to wild-type littermates, i.e. increased time in open arms (effects size of 34.8% with 95% confidence interval (− 13.4%, 81.6%), WT mice average 30.2 ± 6 s, Atxn1−/− average 45.92 ± 12 s) and decreased time in closed arms (− 10.2% effect size with 95% confidence interval (− 5.6%, 25.9%), WT mice average 156.3 ± 9.19 s, Atxn1−/− average 147.4 ± 5.72 s), but this was not statistically significant (one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s test, P = 0.2745, and P = 0.2476 respectively).