Positive Reinforcement Training As a Technique to Alter Nonhuman Primate Behavior: Quantitative Assessments of Effectiveness

Many suggest that operant conditioning techniques can be applied successfully to im-prove the behavioral management of nonhuman primates in research settings. How-ever, relatively little empirical data exist to support this claim. This article is a review of several studies that discussed applied positive reinforcement training techniques (PRT) on breeding/research colonies of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and measured their effectiveness. Empirical analyses quantified the amount of time required to train rhesus monkeys to come up, station, target, and stay. Addi-tionally, a study found that time spent affiliating by female rhesus was changed as a function of training low affiliators to affiliate more and high affiliators to affiliate less