The Four Cs of Psychological Wellbeing: Lessons from Three Decades of Computer-based Environmental Enrichment

Three decades ago, the Animal Welfare Act was amended to require researchers to provide environments that promoted the psychological, as well as the physical, wellbeing of nonhuman primates maintained for research purposes. We developed a computer-task paradigm with the goal of promoting and assessi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: David A.Washburn
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Animal Behavior and Cognition 2015-08-01
Series:Animal Behavior and Cognition
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/7/02.Washburn_FINAL.pdf
Description
Summary:Three decades ago, the Animal Welfare Act was amended to require researchers to provide environments that promoted the psychological, as well as the physical, wellbeing of nonhuman primates maintained for research purposes. We developed a computer-task paradigm with the goal of promoting and assessing the psychological wellbeing of rhesus monkeys. Some lessons learned in the three decades of using this enrichment strategy are discussed in this review. These findings underscore the importance of comfort, companionship, challenge and control in the psychological wellbeing of nonhuman primates, and the utility of game-like computerized tasks for addressing these dimensions of psychological fitness.
ISSN:2372-5052
2372-4323