单选题Questions 57 to 61 are based on the
following passage. Before a big exam, a sound night's
sleep will do you more good than poring over textbooks. That, at least, is the
folk wisdom. And science, in the form of behavioral psychology, supports that
wisdom. But such behavioral studies cannot distinguish between two competing
theories of why sleep is good for the memory. One says that sleep is when
permanent memories form. The other says that they are actually formed during the
day, but then "edited" at night, to flush away what is superfluous.
To tell the difference, it is necessary to look into the brain of a
sleeping person, and that is hard. But after a decade of painstaking work, a
team led by Pierre Maquet at Liege University in Belgium has managed to do it.
The particular stage of sleep in which the Belgian group is interested in is
rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when brain and body are active, heart rate and
blood pressure increase, the eyes move back and forth behind the eyelids as if
watching a movie, and brainwave traces resemble those of wakefulness. It is
during this period of sleep that people are most likely to relive events of the
previous day in dreams. Dr. Maquet used an electronic device
called PET to study the brains of people as they practiced a task during the
day, and as they slept during the following night. The task required them to
press a button as fast as possible, in response to a light coming on in one of
six positions. As they learnt how to do this, their response times got faster.
What they did not know was that the appearance of the lights sometimes followed
a pattern--what is referred to as " artificial grammar". Yet the reductions in
response time showed that they learnt faster when the pattern was present than
when there was not. What is more, those with more to learn (i.
e. , the "grammar", as well as the mechanical task of pushing the button) have
more active brains. The "editing" theory would not predict that, since the
number of irrelevant stimuli would be the same in each case. And to eliminate
any doubts that the experimental subjects were learning as opposed to
unlearning, their response times when they woke up were even quicker than when
they went to sleep. The team, therefore, concluded that the
nerve connections involved in memory are reinforced through reactivation during
REM sleep, particularly if the brain detects an inherent structure in the
material being learnt. So now, on the eve of that crucial test, maths students
can sleep soundly in the knowledge that what they will remember the next day are
the basic rules of algebra and not the incoherent talk from the radio next
door.
单选题
Researchers in behavioral psychology are divided with regard to ______.
A. how dreams are modified in their courses
B. the difference between sleep and wakefulness
C. why sleep is of great benefit to memory
D. the functions of a good night's sleep
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】
单选题
As manifested in the experimental study, rapid eye movement is
characterized by ______.
A. intensely active brainwave traces
B. subjects' quicker response times
C. complicated memory patterns
D. revival of events in the previous day
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
By referring to the artificial grammar, the author intends to show
______.
A. its significance in the study
B. an inherent pattern being learnt
C. its resemblance to the lights
D. the importance of night's sleep
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】
单选题
In their study, researchers led by Pierre Maquet took advantage of the
technique of ______.
A. exposing a long-held folk wisdom
B. clarifying the predictions on dreams
C. making contrasts and comparisons
D. correlating effects with their causes
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】
单选题
What advice might Maquet give to those who have a crucial test the next
day?