🧩 The Role of Animal Research in Understanding Human Behaviour (HL Only)

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📘 Key Concepts and Definitions

Term	Definition
Animal Research	The scientific use of non-human animals to investigate biological and psychological processes relevant to human behaviour.
Translational Research	Research using animal models to understand mechanisms that can be applied to human conditions (e.g., stress, learning, memory).
Comparative Psychology	The study of similarities and differences in behaviour across species to infer evolutionary and biological principles.
Ethological Validity	The extent to which animal research reflects natural animal behaviour, ensuring ecological accuracy.
3Rs Principle	Ethical framework for animal research — Replacement, Reduction, Refinement.
Extrapolation	Applying results from animal studies to humans, assuming shared biological mechanisms.
Lesion Studies	Intentional damage or stimulation of specific brain areas in animals to study behaviour changes.
Enrichment	Providing stimulating environments for laboratory animals to enhance well-being and validity.

📘 Core Studies

1. Rosenzweig, Bennett, & Diamond (1972)

• Aim: Investigate whether environmental factors (enriched or deprived) affect neuroplasticity in the cerebral cortex of rats.
  
• Method: Rats were placed in enriched or deprived conditions for 30–60 days; cortical thickness measured post-mortem.
  
• Findings: Enriched environment rats had thicker cortices and higher acetylcholinesterase activity.
  
• Conclusion: Stimulation influences synaptic growth — demonstrating neuroplasticity.
  
• Evaluation:
  
  • ✅ Strengths: Controlled lab design; replicable; established cause–effect link.
    
  • ⚠️ Limitations: Limited generalizability; ethical concern over euthanasia.
    

2. Rogers & Kesner (2003)

• Aim: Examine acetylcholine’s role in spatial memory using rats.
  
• Method: Rats trained to find food in a maze; injected with scopolamine (ACh blocker).
  
• Findings: Scopolamine group took longer and made more errors.
  
• Conclusion: Acetylcholine is essential for memory formation.
  
• Evaluation:
  
  • ✅ Strength: Demonstrated neurotransmitter function under controlled conditions.
    
  • ⚠️ Limitation: Translational gap — human cognition is more complex.
    

3. Sapolsky (1990s–2005)

• Aim: Investigate stress physiology in wild baboons to model human stress responses.
  
• Findings: Dominance hierarchies affected cortisol levels; low-ranking baboons had chronically high cortisol, paralleling human stress-related disorders.
  
• Evaluation:
  
  • ✅ Strength: Naturalistic validity; long-term field observation.
    
  • ⚠️ Limitation: Causality unclear; ethical concerns over observation of suffering.
    

4. Harlow (1958)

• Aim: Study the importance of comfort contact in attachment.
  
• Method: Infant rhesus monkeys given wire or cloth “mothers.”
  
• Findings: Monkeys preferred soft cloth mothers, even without food.
  
• Conclusion: Attachment is based on comfort, not feeding.
  
• Evaluation:
  
  • ✅ Strength: Groundbreaking insight into emotional bonding.
    
  • ⚠️ Limitation: Severe psychological harm; modern ethics would not approve.
    

5. Martinez & Kesner (1991)

• Aim: Determine the role of acetylcholine in memory formation in rats.
  
• Method: Rats injected with scopolamine or physostigmine (ACh enhancer) before maze learning.
  
• Findings: Scopolamine impaired, while physostigmine improved memory.
  
• Conclusion: ACh crucial for encoding memory.
  
• Evaluation:
  
  • ✅ Strength: Controlled and replicable; biological mechanism clarified.
    
  • ⚠️ Limitation: Extrapolation to humans limited.
    

💡 TOK Link The use of animals to infer human behaviour raises epistemological questions:Can knowledge derived from non-human species truly represent human cognition? What are the ethical boundaries of scientific pursuit? TOK reflection: To what extent should the pursuit of knowledge override moral constraints?

🌍 Real-World Connections Animal research contributes to understanding neurodegenerative diseases, drug addiction, and stress disorders. Ethical frameworks like the APA Animal Welfare Guidelines (2012) guide humane treatment. Findings support treatments for PTSD, Alzheimer’s, and depression.

❤️ CAS Links Organize awareness campaigns on ethical research and animal welfare. Volunteer with shelters or NGOs to understand animal cognition and empathy. Create educational materials promoting ethical science and compassion.

🧪 IA Guidance Avoid direct animal use; simulate results with existing data or virtual tools. Use past datasets on animal behaviour or neuroscience. Discuss ethics: how your IA upholds Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement.

🧠 Examiner Tips Use precise terminology: neuroplasticity, extrapolation, 3Rs, lesion studies. Always link the study’s animal findings to human behaviour. Balance discussion of scientific contribution and ethical limitations. Evaluation marks depend on your ability to address both validity and ethics.