Horrors of primate brain experiments revealed in ‘non-technical summary’

One summary, published in December 2017, for experiments with permission granted in 2016,  describes experiments involving eight monkeys. They would undergo numerous surgeries and then be tested while ‘sitting in an enclosed testing chair, with access to a joystick or touchscreen monitor’. Electrodes would be inserted into the monkeys’ brains to collect data. To make them cooperate, the monkeys may also have their food and water rationed, described as a ‘controlled food or fluid regimen’. Typically, this can mean animals are working for a few drops of fluid, as a ‘reward’. The summary states, ‘These experiments typically last 2-3 years’. Once the animals have endured operations, restraint and deprivation, they will be killed with an overdose of anaesthetic.