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
35
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
Allthesame,iftherebenottheintention,thereisatleasttheaccident,ofstyle,which,ifonelooksatitatafriendlyw
A、Theydancedinagroup.B、Theyplayedinstrumentstogether.C、Theysangrock-and-rolltogether.D、Theysangfolksongtogether
Proponentsofdifferentjazzstyleshavealwaysarguedthattheirpredecessors,musicalstyledidnotincludeessentialcharacte
Ateamofinternationalresearchershasfoundnewevidencethatanendangeredsubspeciesofchimpanzeeisthesourceoftheviru
Weneedvacations.Theyrechargeus,allowingustobemoreefficientalltheothertimes.Thetroubleis,toomanyofthevacat
Asamatteroffact,whenallalanguagetakesfromanotheroneismerewords,itisusuallybecauseonlyasmallnumberofspea
A、Generatormalfunction.B、Computererror.C、Acollisionwithanotherstation.D、Alltheabove.B
Everyminuteofeveryday,whatecologistJamesCarltoncallsaglobal"conveyorbelt"redistributesoceanorganisms.It’splane
A、TessoftheStormCountryB、TheAdventuresofSonnyandBuddyC、TheEdwardsFamilyD、WinniethePoohA
SimonedeBeauvoir’sworkgreatlyinfluencedBettyFiredan’s—indeed,madeitpossible.Why,then,wasitFriedanwhobecamethe
随机试题
机体防御细茵侵入尿路的自卫能力不包括
A.肝B.心C.脾D.肺E.肾与内湿的产生关系密切的脏腑是()
办理储蓄业务的机构都不得以()资金购买企业债券。
下列不属于全段围堰法导流的是()。
国际货物运输中.如果托运的货物属同一个托运人、收货人,不论托运多少种货物,都应该填制在同一张运单内。()
根据车船税法的规定,车船税的纳税义务发生时间,应在()。
以下资料选自2009年7月中国建筑股份有限公司首次公开发行A股的发行公告。中国建筑首次公开发行不超过120亿股人民币普通股(A股)的申请已获中国证券监督管理委员会证监许可2009627号文核准。本次发行的保荐人是中国国际金融有限公司。本次发行采用网下向询价
环境化学效应是指在环境条件的影响下,物质之间的化学反应所引起的环境效果。根据上述定义,以下现象属于环境化学效应的是:
同盟会纲领中的民族主义的缺点是
文小雨加入了学校的旅游社团组织,正在参加与组织暑期到台湾日月潭的夏令营活动,现在需要制作一份关于日月潭的演示文稿。根据以下要求,并参考“参考图片.docx”文件中的样例效果,完成演示文稿的制作。在第4张幻灯片的右侧,插入考生文件夹下名为“图片2.jpg
最新回复
(
0
)