首页
登录
职称英语
Researchers investigating brain size and mental ability say their work offer
Researchers investigating brain size and mental ability say their work offer
游客
2023-12-15
46
管理
问题
Researchers investigating brain size and mental ability say their work offers evidence that education protects the mind from the brain’s physical deterioration.
It is known that the brain shrinks as the body ages, but the effects on mental ability are different from person to person. Interestingly, in a study of elderly men and women, those who had more education actually had more brain shrinkage.
"That may seem like bad news," said study author Dr. Edward Coffey, a professor of psychiatry and of neurology at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. However, he explained, the finding suggests that education allows people to withstand more brain-tissue loss before their mental functioning begins to break down.
The study, published in the July issue of Neurology, is the first to provide biological evidence to support a concept called the "reserve" hypothesis, according to the researchers. In recent years, investigators have developed the idea that people who are more educated have greater cognitive reserves to draw upon as the brain tissue to spare.
Examining brain scans of 320 healthy men and women ages 66 to 90, researchers found that for each year of education the subjects had, there was greater shrinkage of the outer layer of the brain known as the cortex. Yet on tests of cognition and memory, all participants scored in the range indicating normal.
"Everyone has some degree of brain shrinkage," Coffey said. "People lose (on average) 2.5 percent per decade starting at adulthood."
There is, however, a "remarkable range" of shrinkage among people who show no signs no mental decline, Coffey noted. Overall health, he said, accounts for some differences in brain size. Alcohol or drug use, as well as medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, contribute to brain-tissue loss throughout adulthood.
In the absence of such medical conditions, Coffey said, education level helps explain the range of brain shrinkage exhibited among the mentally-fit elderly. The more-educated can withstand greater loss.
Coffey and colleagues gauged shrinkage of the cortex by measuring the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain. The greater the amount of fluid, the greater the cortical shrinkage.
Controlling for the health factors that contribute to brain injury, the researchers found that education was related to the severity of brain shrinkage. For each year of education from first grade on, subjects had an average of 1.77 milliliters more cerebrospinal fluid around the brain.
For example, Coffey’s team reported, among subjects of the same sex and similar age and skull size, those with 16 years of education had 8 percent to 10 percent more cerebrospinal fluid compared with those who had four years of schooling.
Of course, achieving a particular education level is not the definitive measure of someone’s mental capacity. And, said Coffey, education can be "a proxy. for many things". More-educated people, he noted, are often less likely to have habits, such as smoking, that harm overall health.
But Coffey said that his team’s findings suggest that like the body, the brain benefits from exercise. "The question is whether by continuing to exercise the brain we can forestall the effects of (brain shrinkage)," he said. "My hunch is that we can." According to Coffey, people should strive throughout life to keep their brains alert by exposing themselves to new experiences. Travelling is one way to stimulate the brain, he said; a less adventuresome way is to do crossword puzzles.
"A hot topic down the road," Coffey said, will be whether education even late in life has a protective effect against mental decline.
Just how education might affect brain cells is unknown. In their report, the researchers speculated that in people with more education, certain brain structures deeper than the cortex may stay intact to compensate for cortical shrinkage. [br] What does Coffey mean, by saying "Education can be ’a proxy for many things’"?
选项
A、Education decides the capacity of brain.
B、Education is not the only elements that affect brain shrinkage.
C、A lot of elements that affect health (including brain shrinkage) can be said to be education.
D、More education always means less bad habits.
答案
C
解析
语义题。proxy是代理的意思,从这句话所在的上下文,我们可以看出,首先Coffey指出教育并不是影响大脑容量的决定性因素,所以排除A。选项B和D虽然说法无误,但只是细节性内容,不是作者的主要观点。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3275626.html
相关试题推荐
ResearcherswhopickedupandanalyzedwildchimpdroppingssaidonThursdayt
ResearcherswhopickedupandanalyzedwildchimpdroppingssaidonThursdayt
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsand
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsand
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsand
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsand
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsand
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsand
Researchersinvestigatingbrainsizeandmentalabilitysaytheirworkoffer
Researchersinvestigatingbrainsizeandmentalabilitysaytheirworkoffer
随机试题
Thefirstwaywecanapproachlanguageisasaphenomenonoftheindividual
Justlikewriting,____________(翻译也能使人精确).translationcanmakeapersonexact,
狭义的公债券流通指的是( )。A.公债券的发行 B.公债券在流通市场上的转
现行国家统计调查制度中,固定资产投资统计范围从报表类型来分包括( )。A.固定
以下图形序列,将哪两个调换位置后,可以呈现出一定的规律性? A.①和② B.
长期微渗的气体绝缘互感器应开展SF6气体微水检测和带电检漏,必要时可缩短检测周期
投标文件应当包括的内容有()A:投标函 B:投标报价 C:物业管理方案 D
在国务院领导下制定和实施货币政策的宏观调控部门是()。A:中国证券监督管理委员会
(2019年真题)涉及商业秘密的诉讼案件,一律不公开审理。()
满足鼠笼型电动机全压启动的条件中错误的是()。 A.电动机启动时,其端电压应保
最新回复
(
0
)