Undergraduates sometimes ask what the value of animal research is in psychology. The study of nonhuman animals has actually played a huge role in psychology, and it continues to do then today. If you've taken an introductory psychology class, and so you have probably read about seminal psychological research that was done with animals: Skinner's rats, Pavlov'southward dogs, Harlow'due south monkeys. Unfortunately, many introductory textbooks don't give the full film of animate being research. Studies are frequently described without specifying that they were animal studies. When human studies are presented, there is rarely discussion of the basic animal research that enabled those studies to be done. Finally, information regarding the ethical and regulatory environments in which animal research is conducted is covered in a superficial fashion or omitted altogether. These are important bug that deserve better understanding and broader word.

Why Nonhuman Animals are Studied in Psychology

Part of the justification for why nonhuman animals are studied in psychology has to exercise with the fact of development. Humans share mutual beginnings with the species most commonly studied in psychology: mice, rats, monkeys. To be sure, each species has its ain specializations that enable it to fit into its unique ecological niche; merely common ancestry results in structural (east.g., brain) and functional (east.g., memory) processes that are remarkably similar betwixt humans and nonhumans. In addition, we can better sympathize central processes because of the precise control enabled by creature research (e.g., living environments, experimental conditions, etc.). We tin too inquire and respond certain questions that would be difficult or impossible to do with humans. For example, nosotros know what the connections are betwixt the amygdala and other brain regions, only how does activity in the amygdala affect encephalon operation? Using a new technique, it is now possible to temporarily inactivate the amygdala in a monkey and run into how other encephalon areas (including those that are non directly connected to the amygdala) modify their activity (Grayson et al., 2016). A study such as this non only helps us better understand how the brain works, merely it also has enormous potential for developing treatments for people who have abnormal patterns of encephalon activity, such every bit those with epilepsy or Parkinson's disease. X years from at present, students may very well read in their textbooks about a "new treatment" to assist people with Parkinson's disease. Volition this monkey study, which enabled such a discovery to be made, exist described? Probably not, in much the aforementioned way that nonhuman inquiry that permitted a significant human study to be conducted is rarely described in today'southward textbooks.

Weighing Harm and Benefit

Researchers who report nonhumans recognize that their studies may involve sure harms that can range from the relatively minor (due east.g., cartoon a blood sample) to the more than serious (e.g., neurosurgery). The research customs tries to mitigate some of the harms by insuring, for example, that the animals' psychological well-being is optimized; in fact, in that location is a large body of psychological research that focuses on creature welfare and identifying best practices to firm and intendance for animals in captivity. Still, some harms will remain, and ethically, ane must weigh those harms against the potential benefits (for humans and for the animals themselves) to be obtained from the research. Equally important is the consideration of the potential harms to humans of not doing the research. For example, without any creature research, effective treatments for human conditions like Alzheimer's disease may very well exist found, but information technology would certainly take decades longer to find them, and in the meantime, millions and millions of additional people would suffer.

Regulations for Animate being Research

Finally, it's of import to notation that creature enquiry in the U.s. is very tightly regulated by a series of federal and state laws, policies and regulations, dating back to the landmark Brute Welfare Act from 1966. Oversight and inspection of facilities is provided by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, and, at the local level by Institutional Beast Care and Use Committees (IACUCs). Even procedures as uncomplicated as cartoon a blood sample or testing an fauna on a cerebral task must be approved by the local IACUC before the work tin can begin. Role of that approval procedure requires the scientist to identify whether there might be less invasive ways to practise the same matter. In addition, the scientist must justify the numbers of animals that they use, insuring they are using the smallest number possible.

Animal inquiry continues to play a vital role in psychology, enabling discoveries of basic psychological and physiological processes that are important for living healthy lives. You lot tin can learn more about some of this research, also equally the ethical and regulatory problems that are involved, by consulting online resources such as Speaking of Enquiry.

References

Grayson D.S., Elation-Moreau East., Machado C.J., Bennett J., Shen K., Grant K.A., Off-white D.A., Amaral, D.Grand. The rhesus monkey connectome predicts disrupted functional networks resulting from pharmacogenetic inactivation of the amygdala. Neuron. 2016 Jul 20;91(2):453-66.

About the author

John Capitanio, PhD John Capitanio, PhD, is a inquiry psychologist in the department of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and a core scientist at the California National Primate Research Center. He received his PhD in comparative psychology from the Academy of California at Davis in 1982, and was a postdoctoral researcher in developmental psychobiology in the department of psychiatry at the Academy of Colorado Health Sciences Centre. He is the former associate director for inquiry at the Primate Center, a past president of the American Society of Primatologists, a recipient of the Patricia R. Barchas Honour in Sociophysiology from the American Psychosomatic Society, a fellow of several professional societies, and in 2012, he received the Distinguished Primatologist Honour from the American Society of Primatologists. He is currently the chair of APA'southward Commission on Animal Inquiry and Ideals. Capitanio'south research interests are focused on developing naturally-occurring nonhuman primate models of psychological processes, in order to better understand the underlying biology of phenomena such equally loneliness, inhibited temperament and poor social performance.