BRAINPOWER > Use it or lose it In this unit you will practise: Exam Focus ‘* Taking about learning and memory Speaking: Parts 2, 3 ‘© Prediction; skimrning; scanning reading for detail Reading skills ‘© Multiple choice, sentence completion; matching; TruelFalse/Does Not Say Read «© Vocabulary: word families Exam tasks Lead-in 1 Study the words on page 217 for exactly two minutes. Then turn back to this page and write as many words as you can remember in the spaces below. Now answer the following questions. 1 How did you get on? Which words were easiest to remember? Why? 2. Does writing things down help you to remember them? 3. What other techniques (if any) did you use to remember the words? 4 Ifyou had to learn another set of words, would you do it differently? 3. Work with another student. Discuss how you normally remember the following: things you need to buy someone's birthday an important telephone number what you need to say in a telephone conversation things you have to pack for a holiday someone’s name after you've been introduced directions for getting somewhere new English vocabulary Part 2 of the Memory Test comes later in the unit, If you add together your scores for the two parts, you will see how your total score compares with the average for these tests (see page 94).PREDICTION 1 SKIMMING 2 ‘By Mark Henderson ‘S0enoe Correspondent STUDENTS who stay up all night to com for an exam are doing temselves more harm than good, “secoring to research into the link tween sleep and memory uhlshed yesterday. Scientists at Harvard Medical " Sthool discovered that people who "deprive themselves of sleep so that they can study until the last minuto fe unlikely to remember anything iat would improve their frformance, while suffering the crippling effects of fatigue The scientists found that the Frain neds good-quality. sleep inmodiately after practising a task iit to leam to improve at it Those who substitute study for skep, particularly those who miss SCANNING 3 Focus on reading 1 Sleep NB Headlines often rely on fixed phases and colloquial about the meaning of this headline, look up the idiom fo bura the raidnight oi deep or “slow-wave” sleep, will get little benefit from their extra effort, Instead, they may perform worse than expected because tiredness is a major cause of poor decision- making. ‘The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, add to a growing body of evidence that sleep is vital to the learning process In the study, a team led by Robert Stickgold, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, asked 24 volunteers to practise a “visual discrimination task” that involved identifying the orientation of diagonal lines on a computer sereen, Half the volunteers were then kept awake all night, while the other half had a normal night's sleep. To eliminate the effects of fatigue on the sleep-deprived group, Scan the article to find the answers to these que: Making guesses about the content of a text by looking at the heading, subheading and any visuals will help you read more efficiently. Look at the newspaper headline below and say what you think the article is going to be about. Sleep better than midnight oil on eve of exams ims, If you are unsure Skim the article quickly to check or correct your prediction. Note that the text below is shorter than an exam passage. both groups then slept normally for two further nights. They were then tested again on the same exercise. ‘Among the group who slept normally, the volunteers showed a marked improvement. Those who had not slept showed none, despite the two nights of sleep to catch up. ‘The results, Professor Stickgold said, suggest that a good night’ sleep inimediately after learning is “absolutely required” to embed new skill in the memory. “We think thatthe first night's sleep stats the process of memory consolidation,” hae said. “It seems that memories nommally wash out of the bra unless some process nails. thei down. My suspicion is that sleep is ‘one of those things that nails them down.” From The Tne ions as quickly as possible. ‘What was the subject of the scientists’ research? Where did the research take place? Where can the results of the study be found? How many people volunteered to help with the study? What kind of task were they asked to do?READING FOR DETAIL, 4 identify and match these in order to answer a question. Find the relevant sections of the article on page 89 and read them carefully in Exam reading passages often discuss causes and effects, and you may need to ‘order to match the causes and effects. Causes Some volunteers stayed students stay up all night studying. Scientists have carried out research. ake all night. The volunteers who had stayed awake slept. normally for the next two nights. Some volunteers slept normally. Effects mm gOe> 6 Learning is followed by good night’s sleep. Focus on reading 2 Use it or lose it D Multiple choice; sentence 1 completion; matching: TrueiFalse/Does Not Say Use it or lose it: keeping the brain young 1 You hear the same complaint all the time as people get older: is terrible.” Is ital in the mind, or do real changes take place in the brain with age to justify such grumbling? ‘The depressing answer i that the brain’s cells, the neurons, die and decline in efficiency with age. My memory 2 Professor Arthur Shimamura, of the University of California at Berkeley, says there are three main ways in which mental function changes. The first is mental speed, for example how guickly you can react to fast-moving incidents on the road. Drivers in their Tate teens react quickly but tend to drive too fast, while the over sixties are ‘more cautious but react more slowly. ‘The near-inevitable slowing with age also partly explains why sovcer players fare seen as old in their thirties, while {golf professionals are still in their prime at that age. This type of mental Slowing results from a reduction in the elfficieney with whieh the brain's neurons work. Questions 1-16 on pages 91-93 are based on the following reading passage. Glance through the text first before you look at the 3 The fact that adults find it harder to learn musical instruments than children points toa second type of mental loss ‘with age —a reduetion in learning capacity. The parts of the brain known as the temporal lobes control new learning, and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of ageing ‘This means that, as we got older, we take longer to learn a new language, are slower to ‘master new routines and technologies at work, and we have to rely more on diaries and other mental aids, 4 “Working memon system whieh is vulnerable to the effects of ageing. Working memory is, the brain's “blackboard”, where we juggle from moment to moment the things we have to keep in mind when solving problems, planning tasks and generally organising our day-to-day . Absent-mindedness occurs at all ages because of imperfections in the is the third They showed an improvement in the task. The effects of fatigue were eliminated. New skills are retained in the memory. They showed no improvement in the task, They do not improve their performance in the exam. More is known about the effects of sleep on learning. ‘working memory system — so, for ‘you may continually fose your glasses, or find yourself walking into a room oF your house only to fi that you eannot remember what you instance, ceame for 5 Such absent-mindedness tends 10 creep up on us as we age and occurs ‘because our plans and intentions, ‘which are chalked up on the mental blackboard, are easily wiped out by stray thoughts and other distractions ‘Stress and preoccupation can also nindedness, in ceause such absentced to lly in. exam. ning. sage. Akon o age-related changes inthe Jain The frontal lobes of the brain — Ise behind the forehead and above Hose where the working Seeneeyssiem i located. Like the obs, which handle new ing. the ronal lobes are more ble othe ageing process than arts of the brain The news, however, isnot all bleak. tb 1g, the remaining neurons send ns and longer connecting fibres ts) maintain connections and fw us to funetion reasonably well only relatively small drops in Tis nd other evidence suggests ite principle “use it or Lose it” ugh apply to the ageing brain Insesor Shimamura studied a group ixenity professors who were still leeully active, and compared pac peformance on PRACTICE 2; Mlle choice neuropsychological tests with that of ‘others of their age group, as well as with younger people. He found that on several tests of memory, the mentally active professors in their sixties and early seventies were superior to their ‘contemporaries, and as good as the younger people. 8 Research on animals provides even stronger evidence of the effects of stimulation on the brain structure Professor Bryan Kolb, of the University of Lethbridge in Canada, has shown that animals kept in stimufating environments show sprouting and lengthening of the connecting nerve fibres in their brains, in comparison With animals kept in unstimulating environments, 9 ‘The beneficial effects of continued ‘mental activity are shown by the Fact that older contestants in quiz shows just as fast and accurate in responding to general knowledge questions as ‘younger competitors, suggesting that at least part of their intellectual apparatus is spared the effects of ageing because of practice and skill. 10 Such findings lead to the intriguing possibility of "mental to accompany jogging and workouts for the health conscious. Research in Stockholm by Professor Lars Backman und his colleagues has shown that older people can be trained t0 use their ‘memory better, with the effects of this training lasting several years 11 Just as people go bald or grey at different rates, so the same is true for their mental faculties. Why this should bbe the case for memory and other mental functions is not yet clear, but physical factors play a part. IF Professor Shimamura is right, then the ‘degree to which people use and stretch their mental fuculties may also have a role to play. By Tan Robertson in The Times ‘The following question is designed to test your global understanding. Reading module, multiple-choice questions When multiple-choice questions have more than one correct answer they ray count as one question or more, depending on how dfficult they are. When they count as one question, as in the example below, you need to get all parts correct in Corder to get a mark, Question s0, for Which THREE of the foltowing are given in the text? ly lose elf walking A. adetailed description of the structure of the brain only tai B_ an account of the effects on ageing on the brain what yout , © report about the results of seyeral research projects s tends £0 D_ a description of several methods of testing mental ability and occurs Ean explanation of how mental decline can be limited ions, he mental cd out by stactions mt can also ness, in> Sentence completion 3. In this task, you need to match the causes and effects described in paragraphs, 1-8 of the text on pages 90-91. Underline key words or phrases in the questions and scan the text to find information about them. REMINDER. ‘©The questions are usually in the same order as information in the Questions 2-6 = Complete each of the statements with Cae | the best ending (AHH) from the ba on A. absent-mindedness may become more frequent the right. Write your answers in the B_ people go bald or grey at different rates. spaces provided. reactions become slower. 2. Asthe neurons inthe brain D_ new connecting nerve fibres develop, become less efficient, E. the performance of some university professors was studied. F it becomes harder to pick up new skills G older quiz competitors do better than younger ones. 3. As the temporal lobes of the brain are affected by ageing, 4 If a person is under stress, § When the frontal lobes of the brain are affected by ageing, 6 Wan animal's brain is kept active and stimulated, H_ there is a gradual deterioration in the work ‘memory. Bi . 3 res 5 6 | > Matching 4. This taske-was introduced in Unit 3. These questions focus on information in paragraphs 7-11 of the text. REMINDERS «In thetext, underline or highlight each person listed (A~C). Read each section quickly and notice where the information begins and ends. ‘© Choose a section — e.g. one of the shorter ones — and read it carefully. Then look for matching information in the list of achievements j Questions 7-11 - Look at the following people (A-C) and the list of achievements. A. Professor Shimamura | (7-11) below Match tach achievement to the appropriate person, | B. Professor Bryan Kolb © Profesor Lars Backman 7. Investigated the memories of different groups of people. 8 Established the effectiveness of memory training, 9 Identified a number of areas in which mental function may change. 10 Investigated the development of nerve fibtes in the brain Did a study including observation of the long-term effects on his subjectsetext, rmation i sinsand | fully: kman aefalse/Does Not Say Questions 12-16 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write TRUE Ifthe statement is true according to the passage FALSE if the statement is false according to the passage DOES NOT SAY _ ifthe information is not given in the passage Example Answer As people get older, their brain cells become less efficient, TRUE 12. Absent-mindedness is not necessarily a sign of ageing, 13. Animal brains benefit ftom stimulation as human brains do. 14. Research indicates that physical training can help to improve memory. 13. Taking part in quizzes is the best way to stimulate the brain. 16 Scientists now understand why people’s mental faculties decline at different rates. on vocabulary Word families Complete the following table with the correct parts of speech. Most of the answers appear in the texts in this unit. Verb Noun Adjective suspect 1 2 decide 3 4 compare 5 6 7 8 long 9 benefit 10 u ageing 2 3 memory ryFocus on speaking Memories 1 Work in pairs to do this practice task. Choose one of the following topics and talk about it to your partner for two minutes. Your partner should ask one ot ‘two questions at the end. > Part 2: Individual long turn KEY LANGUAGE Articles > ex. 18, p. 199-201 eg, in Greece, in the UAE at schoo), atthe school > Part 3: Discussion 1 Your first job 4 Your first girlriend/boyfriend 2. Getting into trouble at school_—_5-_-Your best childhood friend 3. A prize you won 6 Adifficult journey Choose one of the following topics and tell your partner about changes which have taken place since you were a child. Again, try to talk for about two ‘minutes. 1 Your country 3. School 5. Crime 2 Yourhometown 4 Holidays 6 Marriage Follow the instructions for the second part of the Memory ‘Test and then ch your results. 4 Work in pairs to discuss the following questions. ‘Was there a difference between your scores for the two parts? If so, what might this suggest? 2. How important is memory in the IELTS exam? 3. [sit good idea to ‘cram! for an exam, i-. to try and learn a lot in short just before the Big Day? Why/Why not?