Response to Westlund's commentary: ‘Can conditioned reinforcers and variable-Ratio Schedules make food- and fluid control redundant?’

In this short communication, we respond to Westlund's critique of the NC3Rs Working Group report on refinement of the use of food and fluid control as motivational tools for macaques used in behavioural neuroscience research. The suggestions Westlund makes – in particular, the use of conditioned reinforcers and variable ratio schedules – were considered by the Working Group but were not included in the report as specific recommendations. We outline the reasons for this and also address some misunderstandings of our position.