Abnormal repetitive behaviour and exposure to negative experiences in rhesus monkeys

We tested the hypothesis that, in rhesus macaques used in biomedical research, the performance of abnormal repetitive behaviours (ARBs; e.g. pacing, hair-plucking, eye-poking) reflects the cumulative burden of negative experiences. For 240 macaques living in two US National Primate Centres, we did this by cataloguing, weighing, and summing exposure to 12 types of negative event or practice (two current, ten past), over animals' entire lifespans; and then assessing their aggregated impact on current behaviour. When all recorded forms of ARB were pooled into one measure, the hypothesis was strongly supported at one facility: Pooled ARB increased with Lifetime Negative Experience Scores in a dose-response type manner, and reflected the combined effects of both Current and Past Negative Experiences. At the other facility, Current Negative Experience Scores had no apparent impact on Pooled ARB; however, Past Negative Experience Scores were still highly predictive. This approach, inspired by ..., Subjects were 240 indoor-housed rhesus macaques at the California and Oregon National Primate Research Centers (anonymized in dataset): all the residents of 5 rooms per centre. They lived in metal cages, some singly, some in double-size cages in pairs. Behavioural data were remotely collected via live-streaming cameras, in scans repeated every c. 5 minutes for 3-4 hours daily over 4 (ONPRC) or 5 (CNPRC) consecutive days. Pacing, ‘rocking+’ and a third previously validated ARB sub-category, hair-plucking, were recorded in both facilities; present in >5% subjects; and also performed with good internal reliability. After initial analysis attempts, however, pacing and rocking+ were combined as 'motor ARB' (shared here). After results for hair-plucking and motor ARB emerged, all recorded ARBs were also pooled for further analysis: Pooled ARB is also shared here.  Data on negative experiences over the lifespan: we identified 12 types of challenge (either events or facility p..., # Abnormal repetitive behaviour and exposure to negative experiences in rhesus monkeys Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xvt](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xvt) ## Description of the data and file structure Abnormal Repetitive Behaviour (ARB) data: data were collected via scans. Pacing, ‘rocking+’ and hair-plucking were the main ARBs observed. For analysis, pacing and rocking+ were combined as 'motor ARB'. All recorded ARBs (including rare forms not falling into the three main categories) were also pooled for further analysis: Pooled ARB. Data shared here are counts of ARB presence. The number of scans per subject is also supplied. For negative experiences over the lifespan, we identified 12 types of challenge (events or facility practices likely to induce negative affect). Two pertained to current housing: an adverse cage location (low, near the door); and being singly-caged. Ten (extracted from facility records) pertained to past experiences: maternal loss in infancy; being ...,