How watching sport affects the brain
A
Atabout the same time that the poet Homer invented the epic hero, the ancientGreeks started a festival in which men competed in a single race, about 200metres long. The winner received a branch of wild olives. The Greeks calledthis celebration the Olympics. Through the ancient sprint remains, today theOlympics are far more than that. Indeed, the Games seem to celebrate the dreamof progress as embodied in the human form. That the Games are intoxicating towatch is beyond question. During the Athens Olympics in 2004, 3.4 billionpeople, half the world, watched them on television. Certainly, being aspectator is a thrilling experience: but why?
B
In1996, three Italian neuroscientists, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi andVittorio Gallese, examined the premotor cortex of monkeys. They discovered thatinside these primate brains there were groups of cells that ‘store vocabularies of motor actions’. Just as there are grammars of movement. Thesenetworks of cells are the bodily ‘sentences’ we use every day, the ones our brain has chosen toretain and refine. Think，for example，about a golf swing. To those who have only watched theMasters’ Tournament on TV, golfing seemseasy. To the novice, however, the skill of casting a smooth arc with a lop-sidemetal stick is virtually impossible. This is because most novices swing withtheir consciousness, using an area of brain next to the premotor cortex. To theexpert, on the other hand, a perfectly balanced stroke is second nature. Forhim, the motor action has become memorized, and the movements are embedded inthe neurons of his premotor cortex. He hits the ball with the tranquility ofhis perfected autopilot.
C
Theseneurons in the premotor cortex, besides explaining why certain athletes seem topossess almost unbelievable levels of skill, have an even more amazingcharacteristic, one that caused Rizzolatti, Fogassi and Gallese to give themthe lofty title ‘mirror neurons’. They note. The main functional characteristic ofmirror neurons is that they become active both when the monkey performs aparticular action (for example, grasping an object or holding it) and,astonishingly, when it sees another individual performing a similar action.’ Humans have an even more elaborate mirror neuronsystem. These peculiar cells mirror,inside the brain, the outside world: they enable us to internalise the actionsof another. In order to be activated, though, these cells require what thescientists call ‘goal-orientated movements’. If we are staring at a photograph, a fixed image of arunner mid-stride, our mirror neurons are totally silent. They only fire whenthe runner is active: running, moving or sprinting.
D
Whatthese electrophysiological studies indicate is that when we watch a golfer or arunner in action, the mirror neurons in our own premotor cortex light up as ifwe were the ones ccompeting. This phenomenon of neural mirror was firstdiscovered in 1954, when two French physiologists, Gastaut and Berf, found thatthe brains of humans vibrate with two distinct wavelengths, alpha and mu. Themu system is involved in neural mirroring. It is active when your bodies arestill, and disappears whenever we do something active, like playing sport orchanging the TV channel. The suprising fact is that the mu signal is also quietwhen we watch someone else being active, as on TV, these results are the effectof mirror neurons.
E
Rizzolatti,Fogassi and Gallese call the idea of mirror neurons the ‘direct matching hypothesis’.They believe that we only understand the movement of sports stars when we ‘map the visual representation of the observed actiononto our motor representation of the same action’.According to this theory, watching an Olympic athlete ’causesthe motor system of the observer to resonate. The “motorknowledge” of the observer is used tounderstand the observed action. ‘ Butmirror neurons are more than just the neural basis for our attitude to sport.It turns out that watching a great golfer makes us better golfers, and watchinga great sprinter actually makes us run faster. This ability to learn bywatching is a crucial skill. From the acquisition of language as infants tolearning facial expressions, mimesis (copying) is an essential part of beingconscious. The best athletes are those with a premotor cortex capable ofimagining the movements of victory, together with the physical properties tomake those movements real.
F
Buthow many of us regularly watch sports in order to be a better athlete? Rather,we watch sport for the feeling, the human drama. This feeling also derives frommirror neurons. By letting spectators share in the motions of victory, theyalso allow us to share in its feelings. This is because they are directlyconnected to the amygdale, one of the main brain regions involved in emotion.During the Olympics, the mirror neurons of whole nations will be electricallyidentical, their athletes causing spectators to feel, just for a second or two,the same thing. Watching sports brings people together. Most of us will neverrun a mile in under four minutes, or hit a home run. Our consolation comes inwatching, when we gather around the TV, we all feel, just for a moment, what itis to do something perfectly.
27 利用题目细节信息定位于F段， This feeling also derives from mirror neurons. By letting spectators share in the motions of victory, they also allow us to share in its feelings. This is because they are directly connected to the amygdale, one of the main brain regions involved in emotion.因此，正确答案为F。
28 利用题目细节信息定位于B段，They discovered that inside these primate brains there were groups of cells that 'store vocabularies of motor actions’. Just as there are grammars of movement. These networks of cells are the bodily ‘sentences’ we use every day, the ones our brain has chosen to retain and refine. 因此，正确答案为B。
28 利用题目细节信息定位于E段，According to this theory, watching an Olympic athlete 'causes the motor system of the observer to resonate. The "motor knowledge" of the observer is used to understand the observed action.’因此，正确答案为E。
30 利用题目细节信息定位于C段，The main functional characteristic of mirror neurons is that they become active both when the monkey performs a particular action (for example, grasping an object or holding it) and, astonishingly, when it sees another individual performing a similar action.' Humans have an even more elaborate mirror neuron system.因此，正确答案为C。
31 利用题目细节信息定位于D段，This phenomenon of neural mirror was first discovered in 1954, when two French physiologists, Gastaut and Berf, found that the brains of humans vibrate with two distinct wavelengths, alpha and mu. 因此，正确答案为D。
32 利用题目细节信息定位于E段， It turns out that watching a great golfer makes us better golfers, and watching a great sprinter actually makes us run faster. This ability to learn by watching is a crucial skill. From the acquisition of language as infants to learning facial expressions, mimesis (copying) is an essential part of being conscious. The best athletes are those with a premotor cortex capable of imagining the movements of victory, together with the physical properties to make those movements real.因此，正确答案为E。
33 C 利用题目细节信息定位于B段，the discovered that inside these primate brains there were groups of cells that‘store vocabularies of motor actions’ .just as there are grammars of movement.these networks of cells are the bodily'sentences' we use every day,the ones our brain has chosen to retain and refine.
34 A 利用顺序原则定位于E段，The best athletes are those with a premotor cortex capable of imagining the movements of victory,together with the physical properties to make those movements real.
35 C 利用顺序原则定位于F段，This feeling also derives from mirror neurons of whole nations will be electrically identical....what it is to do something perfectly
36 YES
37 NO
38 NO
39 NOT GIVEN
40 YES
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发表于 2018-8-4 09:39:11
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