首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Researchers investigating brain size and mental ability say their work offers evidence that education protects the mind from the
Researchers investigating brain size and mental ability say their work offers evidence that education protects the mind from the
admin
2011-01-02
66
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 aged 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 adecade starting at adulthood."
There is, however, a "remarkable range" of shrinkage among people who show no signs of mental decline, Coffey noted. Overall health, he said, accounts for some differences in brain size. Alcohol or drag 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 means the greater the cortical shrinkage. Controlling 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, which 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 c6ntinuing 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. Traveling 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.
选项
答案
B
解析
主旨题。文章的中心说的就是教育究竟在大脑尺寸缩小的过程中起到什么样的作用。作者引用了一项研究,得山的结论是教育会使大脑尺寸缩小得更快,但是会有效地阻止大脑功能在这一过程中受到影响,就是防止mental decline。选项B是对原文准确的概括总结。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/QReO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
TheU.S.Constitutionrequiresthatthepresidentshouldbea_______year-oldnativebornAmericancitizen,livingintheStat
Whowasrecognizedthroughouthislifeastheleaderoftranscendentalismmovement?
Inthelate1960smanypeopleinNorthAmericaturnedtheirattentiontoenvironmentalproblems,andnewsteel-and-glassskyscra
Ateamofinternationalresearchershasfoundnewevidencethatanendangeredsubspeciesofchimpanzeeisthesourceoftheviru
A、Generatormalfunction.B、Computererror.C、Acollisionwithanotherstation.D、Alltheabove.B
Americansoftentrytosaythingsasquicklyaspossible,soforsomeexpressionsweusethefirstlettersofthewordsinstead
A、ItvotedtoapprovedthelawB、ItvotedtosubmittothefederaleducationreformlawwhenconflicthappenedC、Itvotedtoqui
A、Itvotedtoapprovedthelaw.B、Itvotedtosubmittothefederaleducationreformlawwhenconflicthappened.C、Itvotedtoq
______isnotadominantfigureoftheRealisticPeriod?
Westerntattooistsworkwithaspecialelectricalinstrument,somethinglikeadentist’sdrill.Itholdsanumberofveryfine
随机试题
关于急性硬膜外血肿CT表现的描述,正确的是
填入下面横线处,与上下文衔接最恰当的一句是()对爱好文科的学生,加强文科辅导是必要的,但是否可以忽视理科的学习呢?还要不要他们学好数学、物理、化学和生物呢?______。
患者,男,42岁。4年来经常腹胀,下肢浮肿,前胸有蜘蛛痣,腹水,肝未触及,脾大。应首先考虑的是
以滑膜炎为基本病理改变的风湿病是
检验试验费属于()。
下列关于股票及股票基金的说法错误的是()。
用人单位自用工之日起满1年不与劳动者立书面劳动合同的,视为用人单位自用工之日起满1年的当日已经与劳动者立无固定定期限劳动合同。()
何冀平《天下第一楼》
设f(x)是奇函数,除x=0外处处连续,x=0是其第一类间断点,则∫0xf(t)dt是
Atwhattimedoestheofficeopen?
最新回复
(
0
)