SSS 2012-03-22
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(三)月
英语课
A quarter of all police shootings involve unarmed suspects. In a few recent cases, officers mistook cell phones and hairbrushes for guns, and shot and killed the victims. Now a study may explain—in part—these errors. Researchers found that when a person holds a gun, they’re more likely to think they see a weapon being carried by another. That study is in the Journal of Experimental Psychology 1: Human Perception and Performance.
Researchers had volunteers hold a Wii handgun or a foam 2 ball. Then they flashed images of people either holding guns or objects like soda 3 cans, and asked volunteers to decide if they'd seen a weapon. The subjects holding the Wii gun were more likely to mistakenly see a gun in the hands of their onscreen "foe 4." When researchers varied 5 the experiment, subjects holding shoes were more likely to see shoes onscreen.
The reason, the authors say, is that just planning to possibly use an object—like a pistol—might prime the brain for spotting that object. Which might be a great advantage for quickly noting when a suspect is indeed armed. But can cause tragic 6 overreactions when there’s really no gun in sight.
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American 60 Second Science, I am Christopher Intagliata
1 psychology
n.心理，心理学，心理状态
- She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
- He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
2 foam
v./n.泡沫，起泡沫
- The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
- The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。
3 soda
n.苏打水；汽水
- She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
- I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。
4 foe
n.敌人，仇敌
- He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
- A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。