Control of animal pain and distress in behavioral studies that use food deprivation or aversive stimulation.

Imposing moderate amounts of food deprivation on an animal allows the use of reward techniques in studying behavior and poses fewer ethical problems than does the use of aversive procedures. Possible discomfort caused by experiments using aversive stimulation frequently can be reduced. Habituating animals to experimental procedures is almost always a good idea. When the reaction to aversive stimuli is the object of study, animals can be given direct control of the stimulus and the intensity of stimulus they choose can then be measured.