Palmer Sierra, Oppler Scott Hunter, Graham Melanie L
Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55108, USA.
Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
Biology (Basel). 2022 Mar 10;11(3):423. doi: 10.3390/biology11030423.
Primates involved in biomedical research experience stressors related to captivity, close contact with caregivers, and may be exposed to various medical procedures while modeling clinical disease or interventions under study. Behavioral management is used to promote behavioral flexibility in less complex captive environments and train coping skills to reduce stress. How animals perceive their environment and interactions is the basis of subjective experience and has a major impact on welfare. Certain traits, such as temperament and species, can affect behavioral plasticity and learning. This study investigated the relationship between these traits and acquisition of coping skills in 83 macaques trained for cooperation with potentially aversive medical procedures using a mixed-reinforcement training paradigm. All primates successfully completed training with no significant differences between inhibited and exploratory animals, suggesting that while temperament profoundly influences behavior, training serves as an important equalizer. Species-specific differences in learning and motivation manifested in statistically significant faster skill acquisition in rhesus compared with cynomolgus macaques, but this difference was not clinically relevant. Despite unique traits, primates were equally successful in learning complex tasks and displayed effective coping. When animals engage in coping behaviors, their distress decreases, improving welfare and reducing inter- and intra- subject variability to enhance scientific validity.
参与生物医学研究的灵长类动物会经历与圈养、与照料者密切接触相关的应激源，并且在模拟临床疾病或正在研究的干预措施时可能会接受各种医疗程序。行为管理用于在不太复杂的圈养环境中促进行为灵活性，并训练应对技能以减轻压力。动物如何感知其环境和互动是主观体验的基础，并且对福利有重大影响。某些特征，如气质和物种，会影响行为可塑性和学习能力。本研究使用混合强化训练范式，调查了83只接受训练以配合可能令人厌恶的医疗程序的猕猴的这些特征与应对技能习得之间的关系。所有灵长类动物均成功完成训练，抑制型和探索型动物之间无显著差异，这表明虽然气质深刻影响行为，但训练是一个重要的平衡因素。恒河猴与食蟹猕猴相比，在学习和动机方面的物种特异性差异表现为技能习得在统计学上显著更快，但这种差异在临床上并不相关。尽管具有独特特征，但灵长类动物在学习复杂任务方面同样成功，并表现出有效的应对能力。当动物采取应对行为时，它们的痛苦会减轻，从而改善福利并减少个体间和个体内的变异性，以提高科学有效性。
