题目内容
Most of us have gone away from “mad men” in the street, only to realize that they are in fact using a Bluetooth headset. Now a new University of Pennsylvania study shows that muttering can actually help people find lost objects—in other words, saying the name of an object helps you find it more quickly.
Previous work has suggested that speaking aloud while performing step-by-step tasks, like tying shoelaces (鞋带), can help kids guide their behavior and let them focus on the job in hand. However, scientists were not sure if speaking aloud when performing tasks could help adults in the same way, especially when looking for particular objects. Professor Gary Lupan and Daniel Swingley, writing for the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, carried out some experiments. They hoped to give the fact that next time you lose your keys, muttering “keys, keys, keys” can in fact help you find them.
Inspired by viewing people muttering to themselves as they try to find things like peanut butter in a supermarket, the researchers conducted two experiments to see if this actually worked. In the first, participants were shown 20 pictures of various objects and were asked to find a certain one, with some seeing a text label (标签) telling them what they were looking for. These participants were then asked to search for the object again while saying the word to themselves, with results showing that saying it aloud helped people find the object more quickly.
The second experiment saw participants performing a shopping task, where they were shown photographs of items (物品) commonly found on supermarket shelves. They were asked to find all examples of a particular item, so if they were asked for apples they had to find all the bags of apples, as quickly as possible. The researchers found that there was also an advantage in saying the name of the product aloud when they were searching for something familiar.
The University of Pennsylvania study shows that muttering can actually help people reach the target object—in other words, muttering to oneself helps to focus the mind on something. It works more effectively than seeing a written description. Repeating the word over and over again helps even more.
1.The second paragraph tells us that ________.
A. muttering helps people to control their behavior
B. muttering has the same effect on both kids and adults
C. it is really hard to carry out the experiments on adults
D. it is easier for kids to do step-by-step tasks by muttering
2.According to the passage, muttering can help people in a way that ________.
A. it completely controls people’s mind
B. it directly explains people’s behavior
C. they concentrate more on their job at hand
D. they reduce their pressure from their mind
3.The two experiments mentioned in the passage show that ________.
A. participants were better at doing the shopping task
B. it took the participants the same time to find the objects
C. showing pictures of the items helped find them more quickly
D. participants saying aloud the word found the object more quickly
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A. Effects of Muttering
B. How to Find Lost Objects
C. What to Mutter to Yourself
D. Methods of Remembering Objects
