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
active infrared equipment
Alpha-D3
antireflective film
apparent free spare
band segmentation
basisphenoidal
beard -lichen,beard moss
Bonneville Dam
Bulbophyllum henanense
caliber compass
carrier mobility
Cassaro
central place system
chalcotript
channel commend word
clearing heat and cooling blood
coefficient of collapsibility
colforsin
commercial computer
condenser steam turbine
creative-city
designated drivers
dieuropium
disassembler
double deflection indicator tube
drop phase
ductulus choledochus
echinoderm families
elecinsulating
electrogram
Estrella, R.
Extendible bonds
fast charge
fault topography
fire camp
French hood
gadolina-containing fuel
gouting
grape lice
haiman
indicator indicial admittance
inhalation general anesthetic
isopropylnoradrenaline sulfate
Juniperus virginiana
Kheyrābād-e Pā'īn
kit utility
Koehller
Lingulacea
lobby ventilation
Lutz-Splendore-Almeida disease
Mizonovo
moisture transmission coefficient
morbus coxae senilis
multiscaler
N-carbamylglycine
narroweth
national income sheet
noperine
not think
ogrizovic
paleogenetic
pantoums
peritrich
phu vinh(tra vinh)
plagiothecium neckeroideum b.s.g
plastic ballast piping
prairie chickens
Procyon lotor
psychological development
pulse-rate telemetering
radar returns
ramus marginalis mandibulae
ratify
red batch
red-facedly
Rock Valley
Rubus dolichocephalus
safety class barrier
safety pillar
seismic zone of intensity ...
shaughnessy
shearing die
SILC-BLD
simplex tableaux
smithsonizn agreement
soak vat
solantoin
solid piston
speciality product
stellar dynamics
stem holder
stokeslet
stretch rolling
thoracolumbar
TI-Ag
undreams
Unna's disease
unsummonsed
y?eh hsuan chih chih
yester-
zeolitic deposit
zerks