An important
survival skill of animals is their spatial memory, the ability to remember
objects based on their relationship to other things in the environment. Animals
use their spatial memory to make a list of paths leading to various goals.
Navigating by landmarks, such as rocks or trees, is a simple but effective
procedure. An animal learns from experience that turning right at one landmark
and then left at another will lead to its destination. Some animals can
recognize a landmark from different directions, making it possible to find their
way to a familiar goal even when approaching from an unfamiliar
direction. Now cover the passage and listen to the lecture. You
may take notes, and you may use your notes to help you answer the question.
After you hear the question, begin preparing your response. You may look at the
question, but NOT at the passage. You have 30 seconds to prepare your response
and 60 seconds to speak. The professor describes the behavior
of a species of bird. Explain how the birds' behavior illustrates the concept of
spatial memory.
【正确答案】Key points:
Spatial memory is the ability to remember objects based on their relationship to other things in the environment.
The professor describes how some birds bury food and later remember the hiding place. The birds use landscape features to remember where the food is buried.
When researchers moved an object, such as a log or a rock, the birds appeared to search for their food in a particular spatial relationship to the object. This illustrates how birds use landmarks to indicate where their food is buried.
【答案解析】[解析]
Now listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.
Birds spend most of their day in search of food. A few species will store food in hiding places for later use. These birds appear to have highly developed memories. For example, nutcrackers bury food and are able to remember the locations of the hiding places with great accuracy. They use landscape features--like distinctive rocks, logs, and other landmarks--as spatial cues that signal where their food is buried. Recognition of these landmarks allows the birds to return later and dig up the food.
And here's the interesting part. In one study of nutcrackers, after the birds had buried their food, the researchers went to the area where the food was buried and moved a log or a rock. When the birds returned to that area, they were observed digging for the food. But in the places where a log or rock had been moved, the birds appeared to search in a particular spatial relationship to the object. For example, if food had been buried three meters to the west of a large flat rock, and the rock was moved two meters to the north, the birds would dig three meters to the west of the rock in its new location. The professor describes the behavior of a species of bird. Explain how the birds' behavior illustrates the concept of spatial memory.