SSS 2010-05-03
时间：2019-01-08 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(五)月
This is Scientific American's Sixty-Second Psych. I'm Christie Nicholson. Got the minute?
Say a teenager takes the car without permission and crashes it. Or pole jumps off a bridge into white water. Bruised 1, broken or worse, arrested, the first words out of a parent's mouth are: What were you thinking?
And the inevitable 2 response from the teen: I don't know. Nothing. I wasn't thinking of anything!
Prior studies have suggested that increased risk-taking in teenagers has to do with the late development of executive functions in the brain that control impulsivity 3.
But research out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shows it might not always be about a delay in cognitive 4 function. For four years they tracked the risky 5 moves and executive brain function (here they tested for working memory as one indicator 6 of impulsivity control) of almost 400 youths of mixed race and backgrounds.
The researchers found that different kinds of impulsivity correlated with working memory. Sure, those who "acted without thinking" did tend to have poor working memory. But there was another group, who tended toward sensation-seeking behavior, who appear to have more awareness 7 of what they're doing. This group had significantly more developed working memory.
The researchers note that many adolescents do have the capacity to control their risk-taking, and we will need to find ways for them to channel sensation-seeking drives toward safer activities. Like staying in regulated skateboard parks instead of trying to latch 8 their skateboard to a car on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
—Christie Nicholson
- his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
- She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。
- Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
- The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
- Fortifying executive function and restraining impulsivity are possible with active interventions. 积极干预可能有助加强执行功能和抑制冲动性。
- As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
- The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。
- It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
- He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。
- Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
- His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。
- There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
- Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。