Some researchers contend that sleep plays no role in the consolidation of declarative memory(i.e., memory involving factual info

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问题 Some researchers contend that sleep plays no role in the consolidation of declarative memory(i.e., memory involving factual information). These researchers note that people with impairments in rapid eye movement(REM)sleep continue to lead normal
line lives, and they argue that if sleep were crucial for memory, then these individuals
5 would have apparent memory deficits. Yet the same researchers acknowledge that the cognitive capacities of these individuals have never been systematically examined, nor have they been the subject of studies of tasks on which performance reportedly depends on sleep. Even if such studies were done, they could only clarify our understanding of the role of REM sleep, not sleep in general.
10 These researchers also claim that improvements of memory overnight can be explained by the mere passage of time, rather than attributed to sleep. But recent studies of memory performance after sleep—including one demonstrating that sleep stabilizes declarative memories from future interference caused by mental activity during wakefulness—make this claim unsustainable. Certainly there are memory-
15 consolidation processes that occur across periods of wakefulness, some of which neither depend on nor are enhanced by sleep. But when sleep is compared with wakefulness, and performance is better after sleep, then some benefit of sleep for memory must be acknowledged.
Description
The passage presents and then rebuts two arguments made by researchers who question the contribution of sleep to the consolidation of declarative memory(memory involving factual information). The first argument is that people with impairments to REM sleep continue to lead normal lives. In response, the passage says that these researchers themselves acknowledge the absence of systematic study of such individuals’ cognitive abilities, study that would be necessary in order to fully support the researchers’ claim. The passage also points out that the researchers’ claim applies only to REM sleep rather than to sleep in general. The second claim is that improvements of memory that occur overnight might be explained merely by the passage of time. In response, the passage cites research findings that demonstrate the role of sleep in stabilizing declarative memory.
Which of the following best describes the function of the sentence in lines 14-16("Certainly... sleep")?

选项 A、It provides the reasoning behind a claim about the role of sleep in memory consolidation.
B、It explains why a previous claim about sleep and memory is unsustainable.
C、It demonstrates why wakefulness is central to the process of declarative memory consolidation.
D、It emphasizes the limited role sleep plays in the process of declarative memory consolidation.
E、It concedes that the consolidation of declarative memory does not depend entirely on one factor.

答案E

解析 The cited sentence begins with the word "Certainly," a clue that the sentence will concede that the researchers are not entirely wrong: in this instance, they hus, Choice E is correct. Choice A is incorrect: the sentence deals with memory conare not wrong about memory consolidation occurring during periods of wakefulness. Tsolidation during wakefulness, not with the role of sleep in memory consolidation. Choice B is incorrect: the sentence does follow an assertion that the researchers’ claim is unsustainable, but it does not explain why it is unsustainable. Choice C is incorrect: the sentence does not demonstrate anything. It acknowledges that memory consolidation occurs during wakeful periods but does not identity wakefulness as central to the process. Choice D is incorrect: while the sentence does acknowledge that some memory-consolidation processes are not dependent on sleep, it does not go so far as to claim that sleep plays a limited role in memory consolidation generally.
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