German-born Psychiatrist Hans Lowenbach of Duke University was puzzled for a moment when a colleague complained that one of his patients was "playing possum." Turning the colloquialism over in his mind, Dr. Lowenbach asked himself: "What would happen if a possum played patient?" So he started giving the animals a series of psychological tests.
Alarmed by a buzzer or a flash of light, possums played possum for an average of two minutes, six seconds. Then Dr. Lowenbach and Dr. John Andrews Ritchie gave the marsupials standard electric-shock treatments. After ten doses the possums, when alarmed, froze for an average of only eight...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
