Scientists have proved that sleeping and learning go hand in hand. Even a short nap can boost our memory and sharpen our thinking. But the relationship goes deeper than that.
“The brain is not passive while you sleep,” scientist Anat Arzi said. “It’s quite active. You can do many things while you are asleep.”
Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteers any complex information, like new words or facts. Instead, the scientists taught volunteers to make new connections between smells and sounds.
When we smell something good, like a flower, we take deep breaths. When we smell something bad, we take short breaths. Arzi and her co-workers based their experiment on these reactions.
Once the volunteers fell asleep in the lab, the scientists went to work. They gave them a whiff of something pleasant and meanwhile played a particular musical note. They didn’t wake up, but they heard—and sniffed(吸气) deeply. Then the scientists gave the volunteers a whiff of something terrible and played a different musical note. Again, the volunteers heard and smelled—a short snort this
time—but didn’t wake up. The researchers repeated the experiment.
After just four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their paired smells. When the scientists played the musical tone that went with good smells, the sleepers breathed deeply. And when the scientists played the musical tone that went with bad smells, the sleepers breathed briefly—despite there being no bad smell.
The next day, the volunteers woke up with the sound-smell connection. They breathed deeply when hearing one tone and cut their breaths short when hearing the other, which must have been unusual for them. Imagine walking down the street and taking a deep breath upon hearing a particular sound!
【小题1】In the study, the volunteers were taught _______. 

A.to become active during sleep
B.to tell the difference between smell
C.to learn new words and scientific facts
D.to make sound-smell connections
【小题2】 How did the volunteers react when smelling something nice and hearing musical notes?
A.They took a deep breath.B.They had a wonderful dream.
C.They woke up at once.D.They took a short breath.
【小题3】 When the volunteers woke up the next day, they_______.
A.learned how to play to musical tones
B.forgot what happened during their sleep
C.continued with the sound-smell connection
D.changed their reaction when hearing.
【小题4】The passage mainly tell us______
A.special smells and sounds can improve our memory.
B.our brain can actually learn something new during the sleep.
C.the volunteers will always hear similar sounds in the street.
D.our brain can tell the difference between smells during the sleep.
【小题5】Which of the following is NOT true?
A.A short sleep can improve our memory and sharpen our thinking.
B.Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteer some simple information.
C.When the volunteer smelt something terrible, they didn’t wake up.
D.After four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their pared smells.

 

You are here: Experts > Science > Science/Nature for Kids > Science for Kids > Life Science for teens<>

Expert: Science Adviser - <>3/21/2011

QUESTION: Dear Marie,

Do you have some good suggestions of biology: plant, animal, human science experiments that would work well with teenagers? Scientific methods must go with the experiments. Thanks! <

                                                           Donna

ANSWER: Dear Donna,

Marie is not online and I’ll help you instead of him. There are a lot of little things that can be done, but do you mean lab experiment or statistical analysis, etc.? Let us know what can be suitable for you teens, and we will do our best to send you some experiments to do.

                                                           Best,

                                                           Gloria

Expert: Science Adviser - 3/23/2011

QUESTION: Dear Gloria,

I need lab experiments. The teenage students and I will use data from these experiments to make charts, graphs, tables, etc. and to provide claims and evidence to explain more about the results. Thank you very much.

                                                            Donna

ANSWER:

Hi there,

Your best and easiest way is to do some chemistry experiments. Those are very easy and most probably you can do it in the lab and have charts, etc. for you. I do not have any particular one at the top of my head because I do cancer research and it is a bit more difficult than research for teenagers. I think you can look through these and see if you find something useful for you. http://www.siraze.net/chemistry/sezennur/experiments.htm

If not, get back to me and Marie, and we’ll look more. The good thing about this site is that it has the procedures that you can follow.

                                                            Good luck,

                                                             Gloria

1.How many Science Advisers are there working for this website?

    A. Only one.     B. At least two.     C. About three.       D. Over five.

2.According to Donna, she and the teenage students need ___________.

    A. experiments in the lab                 B. statistical analysis

    C. chemistry experiments                 D. charts and evidence

3.Who is this text for?

    A. Teenagers.     B. Teachers.               C. Parents.        D. Experts.

4. According to Gloria, Donna and the teenage students should __________.

    A. turn to others for help                B. do cancer researches

    C. look through a website                 D. tell who will be helped

 

Have you ever had the strange feeling that you were being watched? You turned around and, sure enough, someone was looking right at you!

Parapsychologists(灵学家) say that humans have a natural ability to sense when someone is looking at them. To research whether such a “sixth sense” really exists, Robert Baker, a psychologist(心理学家) at the University of Kentucky, performed two experiments.

In the first one, Baker sat behind unknowing people in public places and stared at the backs of their heads for 5 to 15 minutes. The subjects(受试者)were eating, drinking, reading, studying, watching TV, or working at a computer. Baker made sure that the people could not tell that he was sitting behind them during those periods. Later, when he questioned the subjects, almost all of them said they had no sense that someone was staring at them.

For the second experiment, Baker told the subjects that they would be stared at from time to time from behind a two-way mirror in a laboratory setting. The people had to write down when they felt they were being stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were started at than if they had just guessed.

Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they’re being stared at. If people doubt the outcome of his two experiments, said Baker, “I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves.”

1.The purpose of the two experiments is to _______.

A. explain when people can have a sixth sense

B. show how people act while being watched in the lab

C. study whether humans can sense when they are stared at

D. prove why humans have a sixth sense

2.In the first experiment, the subjects _______.

A. were not told that they would be stared at            B. lost their sense when they were stared at

C. were not sure when they would be stared at     D. were uncomfortable when they were stared at

3.The underlined word “outcome” in the last paragraph most probably means ______.

A. value    B. result   C. performance        D. connection

4.What can be learned from the passage?

A. People are born with a sixth sense.

B. The experiments support parapsychologists’ idea.

C. The subjects do not have a sixth sense in the experiments.

D. People have a sixth sense in public places.

 

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