POWRE: The History of Animal Models: Diversity in the Use of Animals in Experimental Physiology and Experimental Psychology

POWRE：动物模型的历史：实验生理学和实验心理学中动物使用的多样性

• 批准号: 9805968
• 负责人: Cheryl Logan
• 金额: $ 4.84万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina Greensboro
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-09-01 至 2001-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9805968&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: POWRE; History; Animal; Models; Diversity

Most sciences seek generality of experimental results and theory. However, the phenomena of life are highly variable, and life scientists must ask whether experimental results obtained under controlled conditions are broadly applicable to other, more complex contexts. The specific test animal used in biological experiments may greatly influence the generality of laboratory results. This research will examine the history of the development of experimental animal models in research in physiology and psychology in Germany and America between 1880-1900. The investigator will focus on historical changes in the assumptions of generality associated with the early use of test animals in these fields to show that, though scientists at this time sought generality, they also placed great emphasis on species differences that could limit generality. By 1930, however, the life sciences had seen a proliferation of a few common animal models. After widely used animal models were selectively bred for research, assumptions about species differences changed. The early emphasis on diversity and on circumstances that might render results obtained on one species inapplicable to another was lost. Rather, later many scientists simply assumed generality. That is, even before taking measurements, they often presumed that test animals were models that embodied commonalties shared by many different species. In the life sciences, the unprecedented growth of the experimental method has led to the intensive investigation of a very few species under highly controlled artificial circumstances. With the widespread use of a few test animals, fewer scientists explicitly address the problem of generality. Yet, questions about the limits of generality are among the most troubling issues facing contemporary laboratory science. Research on the history of changes in the use of animal models highlights the role of test animals in framing assumptions about generality and diversity. These assumptions are particularly important in applied research, where the significance of findings for human health and adjustment depends directly on the utility of results obtained from animals. This research examines historically whether assumptions about generality have become uncritically embedded in the use of test animals and assess events that may have led to these circumstances. The work, there, addresses a fundamental problem in the life sciences: achieving the greatest scientific generality possible, given the manifest diversity of life. The investigator has conducted scientific research on the reproductive and territorial functions of vocal signals in wild songbirds for twenty years. While that program has been a successful one, changes in science and in the structure of her university have made it difficult to maintain. Therefore, she is changing her career emphasis, shifting her central focus away from scientific research on animal communication to instead stress interrelations between the histories of experimental psychology and experimental physiology. This award will enable her to draw on her scientific background in zoology, physiology, and psychology to contribute to an understanding of fundamental issues in American science. In addition, because the project links German physiology to the changes in the animal model tradition in America, it meets the POWRE program's goal of forging international links between science in the United States and other countries.

大多数科学都寻求实验结果和理论的一般性。 但是，生活的现象是高度可变的，生命科学家必须询问在受控条件下获得的实验结果是否广泛适用于其他更复杂的环境。 生物实验中使用的特定测试动物可能会极大地影响实验室结果的一般性。 这项研究将研究1880 - 1900之间在德国和美国生理学和心理学研究中实验动物模型发展的历史。 研究人员将重点介绍与这些领域早期使用测试动物相关的普遍性假设的历史变化，以表明，尽管科学家当时寻求普遍性，但他们也非常重视可能限制普遍性的物种差异。 然而，到1930年，生命科学已经看到了一些常见的动物模型的扩散。 在使用广泛使用的动物模型进行选择繁殖后，有关物种差异的假设发生了变化。 早期强调多样性以及可能导致对另一种不适用的物种获得结果的情况。 相反，后来许多科学家只是假定了一般性。 也就是说，即使在进行测量之前，他们经常假定测试动物是体现许多不同物种共同质体的模型。 在生命科学中，实验方法的前所未有的生长导致对高度控制的人工环境中极少数物种进行了深入的研究。 随着一些测试动物的广泛使用，更少的科学家明确解决了普遍性的问题。 然而，关于普遍性极限的问题是当代实验室科学面临的最令人不安的问题之一。 关于动物模型使用变化的历史的研究突出了测试动物在对通用性和多样性的框架假设中的作用。 这些假设在应用研究中尤为重要，在应用研究中，发现对人类健康和调整的重要性直接取决于从动物获得的结果的实用性。 这项研究从历史上研究了对通用性的假设是否已无限期地嵌入了测试动物的使用中，并评估可能导致这些情况的事件。 那里的工作解决了生命科学中的一个基本问题：鉴于生活的明显多样性，实现了最大的科学普遍性。 研究者已经对野生鸣禽的声音信号的生殖和领土功能进行了科学研究，已有二十年了。 尽管该计划是一个成功的计划，但科学和大学结构的变化使得很难维持。 因此，她正在改变自己的职业重点，将她的核心重点从对动物交流的科学研究转移到了实验心理学和实验生理学历史之间的相互关系。 该奖项将使她能够借鉴自己在动物学，生理和心理学方面的科学背景，从而有助于理解美国科学中的基本问题。 此外，由于该项目将德国生理学与美国动物模型传统的变化联系起来，因此它符合Powre计划在美国与其他国家之间建立国际联系的目标。