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
Scientists already knew that bilingual young adults and children perform better on tasks dictated by the brain’s executive contr
Scientists already knew that bilingual young adults and children perform better on tasks dictated by the brain’s executive contr
admin
2015-01-09
79
问题
Scientists already knew that bilingual young adults and children perform better on tasks dictated by the brain’s executive control system. Located at the front of the brain, this system is "the basis for your ability to think in complex ways, control attention, and do everything we think of as uniquely human thought," said Ellen Bialystok, a psychologist at York University in Toronto, Canada.
Now studies are revealing that advantages of bilingualism persist into old age, even as the brain’s sharpness naturally declines, Bialystok said Friday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D. C. Bialystok and colleagues examined 102 longtime bilingual and 109 monolingual Alzheimer’s patients who had the same level of mental acuity. About 24 million people have dementia worldwide, with the majority of them suffering from Alzheimer’s, according to Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet medical university.
The bilingual patients had been diagnosed with the Alzheimer’s about four years later than the monolingual patients, on average, according to Bialystok’s most recent study, published in November in the journal Neurology. This suggests bilingualism is "protecting older adults, even as Alzheimer’s is beginning to affect cognitive function," Bialystok said.
Bialystok is also studying physical differences between bilingual and monolingual brains. In a new experiment, she used CT scans to examine brains of monolinguals and bilinguals with dementia. All the subjects were the same age and functioned at the same cognitive level.
"The physical effects of the disease in the brain were found to be more advanced in the bilinguals’ brains, even though their mental ability was roughly the same," Bialystok told National Geographic News. Apparently, the bilinguals’ brains are somehow compensating, she said. "Even though the ’machine’ is more broken, they can function at the same level as a monolingual with less disease," she said.
"Benefits of bilingualism can begin in uterus," Janet Werker, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, Canada, told the news briefing. For instance, Werker and colleagues’ recent studies show that babies exposed to two languages in uterus do not confuse their languages from birth.
The mental workout required to keep the languages separate may create an "enhanced perceptual vigilance that has lifelong benefits," Werker said. "What I’d like to suggest is the kind of advantages you’ve heard about in aging can be established from those first days of life, in babies having to keep the two languages apart."
Granted, people born into bilingualism have it a bit easier. "One of the things babies have is the luxury of time—they get the opportunity to really focus on task at hand," Werker said. "If we want to learn a second language, we need to set time aside to allow that to happen" and evidence suggests the payoff is worth it.
Even if you don’t learn a second language until after middle age, it can still help stave off dementia, York’s Bialystok said. Being "bilingual is one way to keep your brain active—it’s part of the cognitive-reserve approach to brain fitness," Bialystok said. And when it comes to exercising the brain by learning another language, she added, "the more the better and every little bit helps. "
Babies born into bilingualism can have lifelong benefits because
选项
A、they have sufficient time to learn languages.
B、they have the opportunity to learn in uterus.
C、they have enhanced cognitive capabilities.
D、they are more concentrated on the learning task.
答案
C
解析
细节题。由题干中的babies born into bilingualism和lifelong benefits定位到第六至八段。第七段第一句提到,双语创造了一种增强的认识警觉能力,这使我们终身受益。换句话说,出生于双语环境中的宝宝能够终身受益的原因就在于他们有“enhanced cognitive capabilities”,故[C]为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/X5dO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
IfyouwanttoknowwhyDenmarkistheworld’sleaderinwindpower,startwithathree-hourcartripfromthecapitalCopenhage
Thenewsitemreportsonaresearchfindingabout
Homeschoolingistoeducatechildrenathome,typicallybyparentsorsometimesbytutors,ratherthaninotherformalsettings
Socrates,sonofSophroniscus,asculptor,wasphilosopherofAthens,Greece.Itissaidthatinearlylifehepracticedhisfat
Accordingtonews,theWestVirginiacoalminedisaster
TheOriginofMoney Intheearlieststagesofman’sdevelopmenthehadnomoreneedofmoneythananimalshave.Hewascontent
______isthestudyoflanguageinrelationtothemind.
Googlemaybevaluedatmorethan$185billionandboastmillionsofusers,butthatdoesn’tmeantheInternetgiantisanymatc
A、manyAustraliansaretakingtimeofftotravelB、thewomanworkedforsometimeinNewZealandC、thewomanraisedenoughmoney
Amajoraspectofmanyfirms’marketingstrategiesoverthepastdecadehavebeenthedevelopmentofnewproducts.【M1】______Co
随机试题
β-内酰胺类抗生素可以和___________通过___________键结合,使其失___________作用。各种细菌细胞膜上___________数目和分子量___________,因而对β-内酰胺的___________不同。
A.风寒表实B.风寒表虚C.湿痰咳嗽D.外寒内饮E.风邪犯肺
下列选项中,形成牙本质的结构是
下列哪项不是小儿体格生长规律( )
A.GUPB.GLPC.GCPD.GSPE.GAP《药品非临床研究质量管理规范》的英文缩写是()。
根据《合同法》的规定,有( )情形之一的,当事人可以解除合同。
设计单位应当在设计中提出保障施工作业人员安全和预防生产安全事故的措施建议等内容的建设工程有()
僭主政治
作为国家制度的民主,总是离不开专政的,其原因是()。
Beforeabigexam,asoundnight’ssleepwilldoyoumoregoodthanporingovertextbooks.That,atleast,isthefolkwisdom.A
最新回复
(
0
)