PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
One primary goal of laboratory animal welfare science is to provide a comprehensive severity assessment of the experimental and husbandry procedures or conditions these animals experience. The severity, or degree of suffering, of these conditions experienced by animals are typically scored based on anthropocentric assumptions. We propose to (a) assess an animal\'s subjective experience of condition severity, and (b) not only rank but scale different conditions in relation to one another using choice-based preference testing. The Choice-based Severity Scale (CSS) utilizes animals\' relative preferences for different conditions, which are compared by how much reward is needed to outweigh the perceived severity of a given condition. Thus, this animal-centric approach provides a common scale for condition severity based on the animal\'s perspective. To assess and test the CSS concept, we offered three opportunistically selected male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) choices between two conditions: performing a cognitive task in a typical neuroscience laboratory setup (laboratory condition) versus the monkey\'s home environment (cage condition). Our data show a shift in one individual\'s preference for the cage condition to the laboratory condition when we changed the type of reward provided in the task. Two additional monkeys strongly preferred the cage condition over the laboratory condition, irrespective of reward amount and type. We tested the CSS concept further by showing that monkeys\' choices between tasks varying in trial duration can be influenced by the amount of reward provided. Altogether, the CSS concept is built upon laboratory animals\' subjective experiences and has the potential to de-anthropomorphize severity assessments, refine experimental protocols, and provide a common framework to assess animal welfare across different domains.
摘要：
实验动物福利科学的一个主要目标是对这些动物经历的实验和饲养程序或条件进行全面的严重程度评估。严重程度,或痛苦的程度，动物经历的这些条件通常是基于人类中心主义的假设评分。我们建议(A)评估动物对疾病严重程度的主观体验，和(b)使用基于选择的偏好测试，不仅对不同的条件进行排序，而且对不同的条件进行缩放。基于选择的严重程度量表(CSS)利用动物对不同条件的相对偏好，这是通过需要多少奖励来超过给定条件的感知严重性来比较的。因此，这种以动物为中心的方法根据动物的观点提供了一种常见的疾病严重程度量表。要评估和测试CSS概念，我们提供了三种机会性选择的雄性恒河猴（Macacamulatta）在两种条件之间的选择：在典型的神经科学实验室设置（实验室条件）和猴子的家庭环境（笼子条件）中执行认知任务。我们的数据显示，当我们改变任务中提供的奖励类型时，一个人对笼子条件的偏好转变为实验室条件。另外两只猴子强烈喜欢笼子条件而不是实验室条件，无论奖励金额和类型。我们进一步测试了CSS概念，表明猴子在试验持续时间不同的任务之间的选择可能会受到所提供奖励数量的影响。总之,CSS的概念是建立在实验动物的主观经验，并有可能去拟人化的严重程度评估，完善实验方案，并提供一个共同的框架来评估不同领域的动物福利。
