Rats display sophisticated emotional, social, and cognitive capacities that have important implications for how they are treated in laboratory research. Understanding rat cognition changes the ethical calculus of their use.
The scientific evidence for rat cognition and emotional life has strengthened considerably in recent decades. Rats experience chronic stress in typical laboratory housing including isolation, barren environments, and handling by unfamiliar humans. The 3Rs framework (Replace, Reduce, Refine) offers a pathway to reduce rat suffering in research while maintaining scientific validity.