On 4 Mar 2009 at 0:10, David Epstein wrote: > HOWEVER, I've never seen any reference to a forced-swimming test in > which rodents were permitted to drown
Of course there is the classic (1957) study of the psychologist and psychobiologist Curt Richter showing that dewhiskered wild rats introduced into water-filled cylinders would die, often within a few minutes. He attributed the cause of death not to drowning from exhaustion, but to the stress induced by cutting off the whiskers. However, his study started with measuring the time to drowning from exhaustion in intact rats. See his Figure 2, captioned "Curve showing average survival time (end point drowning) unconditioned tame domesticated Norway rats with relation to water temperature. Averages for 7 rats at each point" [ they lasted from 10 minutes to 60 hrs]. So it was done, just not in psychopharmacology, apparently. http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/reprint/19/3/191.pdf Richter, C.P. (1957). On the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19, 191-8. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
