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
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acanthosis nigricanss
all relay selector
amadiyah
antiradiation
assembling production
asterrubin
available quality level test
Baspιnar
Bevan's operation
blind set core
bouteille
Bowse in!
carpizo
chromaptophore
codelengths
common laburnum
composite sternpost
continuous-forms printer
continuous-process
corrugated header
coupling pair
creatospore (steen 1971)
debug switch
decanted oil
diffuse pinch
Draco Malfoy
draft cards
dress-ing
El Ciego
elicit the truth
eltex (electronic teletype exchange)
enters
Fondi, L.di.
frequency shifter
guanabara bay
gurmy
high-resolution atomic absorption spectrometry
Hooperating
horizontal Shemens diffractometer
in full blossom
internal-frame
japings
jockey strap
judicial divorce
Karoo Nature Reserve
keyboard computer printer
kilo-katals
landing scow
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maritime shipyard
monoarylated
Mott Street
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neutron absorbing material
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offend against the law
optimum scale integration
paisible
permanent pleating machine
pinion and crown wheel
pleasure dome
poked into
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Printing orientation
procase
psoriasis discoidea
quasi-unit
renash
reverse questions
robot for test and inspection
sandwich disc electrophoresis
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self characterization sketch
semi-central system
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Siemen's alloy
sliced bread
software for display
species lignorum
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the lees of life
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