时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(九)月


英语课

You’ve heard of waterboarding used as a means to get suspected terrorists to talk. Some people object to such methods on the grounds that they amount to torture. But in the journal Trends in Cognitive 1 Sciences, psychologist Shane O’Mara of Trinity College in Dublin raises another objection: torture's not likely to work.


Proponents 2 claim that waterboarding's effective because prisoners will tell the truth to make the interrogation stop. But O’Mara says that’s not supported by scientific evidence. Harsh interrogation doesn’t motivate prisoners to tell the truth. It motivates them to talk. Because while they’re talking they’re not being waterboarded. But that doesn’t mean that what they say is true.


What’s more, prolonged extreme stress impairs 3 memory retrieval. American Special Ops soldiers have been shown to have trouble recalling things they’d learned before being subjected to food- or sleep-deprivation as part of their training. That’s because stress hormones 4 can compromise brain activity, especially in regions involved in memory.


O’Mara notes that mildly stressful events actually facilitate recall. So simply capturing, moving and then questioning prisoners, he says, should be stressful enough to get the information flowing.


 



1 cognitive
adj.认知的,认识的,有感知的
  • 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。
2 proponents
n.(某事业、理论等的)支持者,拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )
  • Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
  • Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句
3 impairs
v.损害,削弱( impair的第三人称单数 )
  • Smoking impairs our health. 吸烟会损害我们的健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Almost anything that impairs liver function can cause hepatitis. 任何有损于肝功能的因素,几乎都会引起肝炎。 来自辞典例句
标签: SSS evidence
学英语单词
ablative cooling
Acronema brevipedicellatum
actual attribute
almaties
aminobenzaldoxime
artificial stream
auxiliary head
average cash balance
Baramula
be well away
bluefly.com
Blumea tenuifolia
box back spring
Bunker I.
cabeca
camper trailers
chimpanzee coryza agent
chlamydera nuchaliss
choke-transformer
circular section
dalmatinac
deposition of dust
derrick lighter
diagonal sulci
Dodecagynia
dolerocypria leizhouensis
Dowlais
down-the-hole
dragadiddles
empty nesters
endosmotic equivalent
EVM(envionmycin)
extension cords
external intercostal ligaments
facial suture
generic nouns
gesang
glio-
grrittiness
guerulent
HTL (high threshold logic)
la-la land
ladoga, lake
light-sensitive layer
maintainance
make a hare of
MaLeod gauge
Manchurite
manic depressive reaction
mcconnel
mechanically clamped tool
methylbromides
miarolitic granite
miochin
Moldau
mouse ectromelia
myxomatous endothelioma
not far out
nuclear event
number of diametral pitch thread
nutritional edema
Obvious Unjustness of Administrative Penalty
Oggersheim
oil flow detection relay
outroars
P'yǒnggang
pelletiere
Pisselaeum
plecoglossid
plumboporphyria
pointer needle
pomphorhynchid
potter's ore
prior operation
proximate interaction
ramjolt
rammed block
rb-db
reponsibility
retrogradeurography
Ruecas, R.
segmentation and resassembly sublayer
Siracusa
skeptically
South by Southwest
spontaneous version
stair lift
storage gland
sweat-damp
taillevent
theins
three dimensional photograph
to lift the ban on...
trinucleosome
two-revolution
undersent
Usoy
Veitshöchheim
vicua
vomitory
water-repellent cement