51勛圖

Copy cat nap

October 13, 2016

The moggy who fell asleep at Malaysia*s International Islamic University because ※it appeared to be mimicking behaviour displayed by students§ is an unlikely case of reverse causality (※The week in higher education§, News, 6?October). From Fenimore Cooper*s (1823) observation that ※I just closed my eyes in order to think better with myself...It was only some such matter as a cat*s nap§ to neurophysiological studies in the 1950s by William C. Dement at Stanford and Michel Jouvet at Lyon, cats are known to enjoy a short sleep during the day. Thus, in all likelihood, the students could not resist copying the cat*s behaviour and succumbed to the oppressive weight of a tedious lecture.

R.?E. Rawles?
Honorary research fellow in psychology
University College London


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