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  3. Scientists researching hypnosis have uncovered evidence that counters some of the skepticism about the technique. One skeptical

Scientists researching hypnosis have uncovered evidence that counters some of the skepticism about the technique. One skeptical

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问题     Scientists researching hypnosis have uncovered evidence that counters some of the skepticism about the technique. One skeptical hypothesis is that hypnosis may be the product of "vivid imagination", a now discredited charge stemming from the observation that many people who are hypnotizable can be led to experience compellingly realistic auditory and visual hallucinations. Nothing that an auditory hallucination and the act of imagining a sound are both self-generated and that, like real hearing, a hallucination is experienced as the product of an external source, Henry Szechtman used PET(positron emission tomography)to image the brain activity of hypnotized subjects invited to imagine a scenario and then experiencing a hallucination. By monitoring regional blood flow in areas activated during both hearing and auditory hallucination but not during simple imagining, the investigators sought to determine where in the brain a hallucinated sound is mistakenly "tagged" as authentic and originating in the outside world.
    Szechtman imaged the brain activity of eight very hypnotizable subjects who had been prescreened for their ability to hallucinate under hypnosis. During the session, the subjects were under hypnosis and lay in the PET scanner with their brain activity being monitored under four conditions: at rest;while hearing an audiotape of a voice, while imagining hearing the voice again;and during the auditory hallucination they experienced after being informed that the tape was playing once more, although it was not. The tests suggested that a region of the brain called the right anterior cingulate cortex was just as active while the volunteers were hallucinating as it was while they were actually hearing the stimulus. In contrast, that brain area remained dormant while the subjects were imagining that they heard the stimulus.
    The second major objection raised by critics argues that hypnosis’ ability to blunt pain results from either simple relaxation or a placebo response. McGlashan established that while hypnosis was only as effective in reducing pain as a sugar pill for poorly hypnotizable people, highly hypnotizable subjects benefited three times more from hypnosis than from the placebo. In response to these successes, Rainville devised experiments to determine which brain structures are involved in pain relief during hypnosis, attempting to locate the brain structures associated with the suffering component of pain, as distinct from its sensory aspects. Using PET, he and other scientists found that hypnosis reduced the activity of the anterior cingulate cortex—an area known to be involved in pain—but did not affect the activity of the somatosensory cortex, where the sensations of pain are processed.
    Despite the value of these findings, the mechanisms underlying hypnotic pain relief are still poorly understood. The model favored by most researchers is that the analgesic effect of hypnosis occurs in higher brain centers than those involved in registering the painful sensation, accounting for the fact that most autonomic responses that routinely accompany pain—such as increased heart rate — are relatively unaffected by hypnotic suggestions of analgesia.
Which of the following best defines "higher brain centers" as the term is used in the passage?
选项 A、The parts of the brain known as the somatosensory cortex, where the sensations of pain are processed.
B、The pans of the brain whose function is to distinguish the sensory aspects of pain from it suffering aspect.
C、The parts of the brain known as the anterior cingulate cortex, whose activity is suppressed by hypnosis.
D、The parts of the brain associated with pain, which appear to be insusceptible to placebo effects.
答案C
解析 细节题目。解题点在文章的第三段和第四段。文章在第三段中提到“he and other scientists found thathypnosis reduced the activity of the anterior cingulate cortex—an area known to be involved in pain”，在第四段中提到“…that the analgesic effect of hypnosis occurs in higher brain centers…”，不难看出“higher brain centers”指的是“the anterior cingulate cortex”，故正确的答案为C选项。
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