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
Whenever I speak to educators and interested laypeople about neuroplasticity—the ability of the adult brain to change in functio
Whenever I speak to educators and interested laypeople about neuroplasticity—the ability of the adult brain to change in functio
admin
2015-05-24
71
问题
Whenever I speak to educators and interested laypeople about neuroplasticity—the ability of the adult brain to change in function and structure—one of the questions I often get is whether neuroplasticity can be tapped to treat truly devastating brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s or schizophrenia. After all, neuroplasticity has been used to treat stroke, depression, dyslexia, and other diseases or injuries of the brain. The jury is still out on Alzheimer’s(though since this disease involves massive neuronal death, my bet is that the answer will, sadly, be no).But to my surprise, the answer to schizophrenia might just be yes.
In schizophrenia, which affects about 1.1 percent of American adults, patients suffer from visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions,an absence of emotion, and cognitive deficits. All told, that seemed to be just too much for an approach based on neuroplasticity, which involves retraining the brain, to handle.
But it turns out that at least some of the symptoms of schizophrenia can be lifted with brain training. In a study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, scientists led by Sophia Vinogradov of the University of California, San Francisco, describe what they call "neuroplasticity-based auditory training" to improve memory in people with schizophrenia. Basically, what they did was assign 55 patients with schizophrenia to receive a cognitive-training program developed by Posit Science or to play a computer game that required just as much time and concentration. The Posit program, similar to one the company developed to improve memory in the elderly, emphasizes basic auditory and speech perception; participants used it one hour a day, five days a week, for 10 weeks. The better they got, the harder the program got: it automatically adjusts the level of difficulty to keep the patients’ performance at a constant level so they stay engaged.
Fisher and her colleagues found that the brain-trained group showed noticeably bigger improvements in cognition and verbal working memory than the game-playing control group. The emphasis on auditory training reflects the belief of UCSF’s Michael Merzenich, a pioneer in neuroplasticity and cofounder of Posit, that this is the portal to improved memory and, possibly, cognition. The idea is that if you hear more clearly, then your brain makes fewer errors in encoding the information contained in speech.
It’s hard to argue with even preliminary success, odd as it seems that merely hearing better could bring about such improvements in memory(and not just memory for heard words; it improves memory for seen words as well). "This emphasis on perceptual processes is a critical insight of the Posit Science approach and a clear distinction from other cognitive-training programs,"says Green."The significance of the new study," he says, is that "it addresses cognitive training at a more basic neurobiological level than any previous strategy. We can hope that the dramatic effects they have reported will prove to be replicable and durable and that they will extend to meaningful effects for patients’ lives."
Hope is all well and good. But schizophrenia is notable not only for its severity, but for the yawning gap between what’s known to be effective and what treatments patients actually receive. Green asks rhetorically, "if cognitive training for schizophrenia worked, would we not all know it by now?" In fact, researchers do know it, and some clinicians know it, but by one estimate fewer than 15 percent of schizophrenics get it(or other treatments, rehabilitation and support that would let them live independently). In fact, in a paper earlier this year in Schizophrenia Bulletin, scientists led by Robert S. Kern of the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, were quite upbeat in their assessment of treatments for schizophrenia—none of them the problematic antipsychotic medications that in too many cases are all that people with schizophrenia receive.
Take cognitive-behavior therapy. Its basic premise is that people can be taught to think about their thoughts differently. It is effective in depression where people are taught to think about their tendency to catastrophize—"I had a bad date; no one will ever love me because I am worthless and unlovable". But in something as serious as schizophrenia? Yes, Kern and his colleagues find. It turns out that, with cognitive-behavior therapy, patients who hear voices and feel persecuted can learn to see these symptoms as almost normal in that many people experience them when, say, they are sleep deprived, under extreme stress, drunk or stoned or as "just" the manifestations of a neurobiological glitch and not real. The approach is surprisingly effective, a 2008 review found.
Similarly, exercises to improve attention, learning and memory, reasoning and problem solving—which 90 percent of people with schizophrenia have problems with—also help, as this study found, and make a meaningful difference in whether the person can live independently and hold a job. The tragedy is that—due to an overburdened medical system, inadequate insurance and an inability to pay, as well as simply ignorance about how to find help—few patients with schizophrenia receive what works.
By saying "The jury is still our "(Paragraph One), the author means
选项
A、it is up to the jury to decide whether neuroplasticity can be used to treat Alzheimer’s.
B、the jury is not sure of the effectiveness of neuroplasticity to schizophrenia.
C、it is still illegal to apply neuroplasticity to the treatment of Alzheimer’s.
D、whether neuroplasticity can be used to treat Alzheimer’s remains in doubt.
答案
D
解析
推断题。定位至首段倒数第二句括号中的内容“though since this disease involves massive neuronaldeath,my bet is that the answer will,sadly,be no”,本句中的主观感受词“my bet”和“will”表示猜测,即是否可行还处于猜测阶段.尚未有定论。四个选项只有[D]“神经重构能否用于治疗老年痴呆症仍不确定”符合此意,为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/lxOO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
______iswell-knownforitsimportantroleintheAmericanspacenavigationprogram.
TheAmericanWay:FreedomTheheartoftheAmericancalendarisJuly4Americanshavecelebrat-ed-thisdateas"Independence
Whatisthefirstthingpeopleshouldrememberiftheywanttomakeagoodpresentation?
Theterm"The’LostGeneration"mainlyreferstotheAmericangenerationofyoungpeopleafter______.
Itisoftensaidthat,providedwearenotoftheunfortunateminorityofpeoplewhohavepathologicallanguagedefects,ourlan
Neighborsarethepeoplewholivenearus.Inyouropinion,whatarethequalitiesofagoodneighbor?Usespecificdetailsand
ComputerCrimeⅠ.IntroductionCurrentsituation:theincreaseinnumberandtypeofcomputercrimeⅡ.Featuresofc
ComputerCrimeⅠ.IntroductionCurrentsituation:theincreaseinnumberandtypeofcomputercrimeⅡ.Featuresofc
IntroductiontotheSportsStudiesDepartmentThismini-lecturegivenbytheSportsStudiesDepartmentontheUniversity’sOpen
IntroductiontotheSportsStudiesDepartmentThismini-lecturegivenbytheSportsStudiesDepartmentontheUniversity’sOpen
随机试题
A.卵圆形,无盖,一侧有小棘,内含毛蚴B.灯泡形,个体很小,有盖,内含毛蚴C.圆球形,外有较厚且具有放射状条纹的胚膜,内含六钩蚴D.椭圆形,个体大,壳薄而均匀,有盖,内含卵细胞及卵黄细胞E.椭圆形,壳厚而均匀,壳外有凹凸不平的蛋白质膜,内含卵细胞
男,47岁,2年前曾接受肾移植手术,术后口服环孢素A。因全口牙龈增生覆盖牙冠近1/2就诊。口腔基础治疗后应进行的手术治疗是
临产后主要作用的产力是指()
双代号时标网络计划中,若波形线起点和终点所对应的时标值分别为3,7,则表示( )。
根据下面材料,回答问题。2010年一季度广东农村居民期内现金支出较上年同期大约提高了()。
李某,退伍军人,退伍后被安置在一个企业工作,不幸的是企业倒闭了,他也随着下岗了。凭着军人的坚强性格,他独自四处奔波,试图通过自己的努力,找一个属于自己的新岗位,重新就业,但是几个月下来,四处碰壁,一无所获,郁闷的李某觉得区区七尺男儿,不能立足社会,在家里也
从霍尔开始研究青少年心理至今,青少年心理学的研究提出了不少理论,例如()
在如下基于网络入侵检测系统的基本机构图中,对应Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ模块的名称是()。
编写如下程序:PrivateSubCommand1_Click()Dima(10)AsStrings="123456"n=Len(s)Fork=1Tona(k)=Mid(s,
Properarrangementofclassroomspaceisimportanttoencouraginginteraction.Today’scorporationshirehumanengineeringspec
最新回复
(
0
)