X-Message-Number: 18734 Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 08:34:03 -0800 From: Kennita Watson <> Subject: Re: Footshock ??? Olaf Henny <> wrote: In Message #18719 Kennita Watson <> wrote in part: >>Furthermore, he added, rodent experiments show that the decrease in neurogenesis and the behavioral helplessness caused by inescapable footshock are reversed by administration of fluoxetine. << What is "footshock"? This gave me an opportunity to think about language and idiom, particularly idiom in construction rather than in vocabulary. I had never heard the term "footshock", but I almost automatically knew what it meant. Is "inescapable foot shock" more understandable? Or "inescapable foot shocks" (whose greater understandability I think requires understanding of the concept of "learned helplessness" as implied by the word "behavioral"). In any case, I think it involves electrifying the entire floor. I think protocols vary, but "whenever the mouse takes food" or "every <n> seconds" or "at random times" are common ones. In humans I think they would all be referred to as "torture". BTW, fluoxetine = Prozac. -- May you live long and prosper, Kennita -- Kennita Watson | Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; | None but ourselves can free our minds. http://www.kennita.com | -- Bob Marley, "Redemption Song" Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18734