Questões de Inglês

T E X T

 

Can you learn in your sleep?

 

    Sleep is known to be crucial for learning and memory formation. What's more, scientists have even managed to pick out specific memories and consolidate them during sleep. However, the exact mechanisms behind this were unknown — until now.

    Those among us who grew up with the popular cartoon "Dexter's Laboratory" might remember the famous episode wherein Dexter's trying to learn French overnight. He creates a device that helps him to learn in his sleep by playing French phrases to him. Of course, since the show is a comedy, Dexter's record gets stuck on the phrase "Omelette du fromage" and the next day he's incapable of saying anything else. This is, of course, a problem that puts him through a series of hilarious situations.

    The idea that we can learn in our sleep has captivated the minds of artists and scientists alike; the possibility that one day we could all drastically improve our productivity by learning in our sleep is very appealing. But could such a scenario ever become a reality?

    New research seems to suggest so, and scientists in general are moving closer to understanding precisely what goes on in the brain when we sleep and how the restful state affects learning and memory formation.

    For instance, previous studies have shown that non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep — or dreamless sleep — is crucial for consolidating memories. It has also been shown that sleep spindles, or sudden spikes in oscillatory brain activity that can be seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG) during the second stage of non-REM sleep, are key for this memory consolidation. Scientists were also able to specifically target certain memories and reactivate, or strengthen, them by using auditory cues.

    However, the mechanism behind such achievements remained mysterious until now. Researchers were also unaware if such mechanisms would help with memorizing new information.

    Therefore, a team of researchers set out to investigate. Scott Cairney, from the University of York in the United Kingdom, co-led the research with Bernhard Staresina, who works at the University of Birmingham, also in the U.K. Their findings were published in the journal Current Biology.

    Cairney explains the motivation for the research, saying, "We are quite certain that memories are reactivated in the brain during sleep, but we don't know the neural processes that underpin this phenomenon." "Sleep spindles," he continues, "have been linked to the benefits of sleep for memory in previous research, so we wanted to investigate whether these brain waves mediate reactivation. If they support memory reactivation, we further reasoned that it could be possible to decipher memory signals at the time that these spindles took place."

    To test their hypotheses, Cairney and his colleagues asked 46 participants "to learn associations between words and pictures of objects or scenes before a nap." Afterward, some of the participants took a 90-minute nap, whereas others stayed awake. To those who napped, "Half of the words were [...] replayed during the nap to trigger the reactivation of the newly learned picture memories," explains Cairney.

    "When the participants woke after a good period of sleep," he says, "we presented them again with the words and asked them to recall the object and scene pictures. We found that their memory was better for the pictures that were connected to the words that were presented in sleep, compared to those words that weren't," Cairney reports.

   Using an EEG machine, the researchers were also able to see that playing the associated words to reactivate memories triggered sleep spindles in the participants' brains. More specifically, the EEG sleep spindle patterns "told" the researchers whether the participants were processing memories related to objects or memories related to scenes. "Our data suggest that spindles facilitate processing of relevant memory features during sleep and that this process boosts memory consolidation," says Staresina. "While it has been shown previously," he continues, "that targeted memory reactivation can boost memory consolidation during sleep, we now show that sleep spindles might represent the key underlying mechanism." Cairney adds, "When you are awake you learn new things, but when you are asleep you refine them, making it easier to retrieve them and apply them correctly when you need them the most. This is important for how we learn but also for how we might help retain healthy brain functions." 

    Staresina suggests that this newly gained knowledge could lead to effective strategies for boosting memory while sleeping.

    So, though learning things from scratch à la "Dexter's Lab" may take a while to become a reality, we can safely say that our brains continue to learn while we sleep, and that researchers just got a lot closer to understanding why this happens.

From: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/Mar/2018

Another finding of the research is related to the electroencephalogram (EEG) that was done while the participants were sleeping and exposed to the replay of the words, which revealed

T E X T

 

Can you learn in your sleep?

 

    Sleep is known to be crucial for learning and memory formation. What's more, scientists have even managed to pick out specific memories and consolidate them during sleep. However, the exact mechanisms behind this were unknown — until now.

    Those among us who grew up with the popular cartoon "Dexter's Laboratory" might remember the famous episode wherein Dexter's trying to learn French overnight. He creates a device that helps him to learn in his sleep by playing French phrases to him. Of course, since the show is a comedy, Dexter's record gets stuck on the phrase "Omelette du fromage" and the next day he's incapable of saying anything else. This is, of course, a problem that puts him through a series of hilarious situations.

    The idea that we can learn in our sleep has captivated the minds of artists and scientists alike; the possibility that one day we could all drastically improve our productivity by learning in our sleep is very appealing. But could such a scenario ever become a reality?

    New research seems to suggest so, and scientists in general are moving closer to understanding precisely what goes on in the brain when we sleep and how the restful state affects learning and memory formation.

    For instance, previous studies have shown that non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep — or dreamless sleep — is crucial for consolidating memories. It has also been shown that sleep spindles, or sudden spikes in oscillatory brain activity that can be seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG) during the second stage of non-REM sleep, are key for this memory consolidation. Scientists were also able to specifically target certain memories and reactivate, or strengthen, them by using auditory cues.

    However, the mechanism behind such achievements remained mysterious until now. Researchers were also unaware if such mechanisms would help with memorizing new information.

    Therefore, a team of researchers set out to investigate. Scott Cairney, from the University of York in the United Kingdom, co-led the research with Bernhard Staresina, who works at the University of Birmingham, also in the U.K. Their findings were published in the journal Current Biology.

    Cairney explains the motivation for the research, saying, "We are quite certain that memories are reactivated in the brain during sleep, but we don't know the neural processes that underpin this phenomenon." "Sleep spindles," he continues, "have been linked to the benefits of sleep for memory in previous research, so we wanted to investigate whether these brain waves mediate reactivation. If they support memory reactivation, we further reasoned that it could be possible to decipher memory signals at the time that these spindles took place."

    To test their hypotheses, Cairney and his colleagues asked 46 participants "to learn associations between words and pictures of objects or scenes before a nap." Afterward, some of the participants took a 90-minute nap, whereas others stayed awake. To those who napped, "Half of the words were [...] replayed during the nap to trigger the reactivation of the newly learned picture memories," explains Cairney.

    "When the participants woke after a good period of sleep," he says, "we presented them again with the words and asked them to recall the object and scene pictures. We found that their memory was better for the pictures that were connected to the words that were presented in sleep, compared to those words that weren't," Cairney reports.

   Using an EEG machine, the researchers were also able to see that playing the associated words to reactivate memories triggered sleep spindles in the participants' brains. More specifically, the EEG sleep spindle patterns "told" the researchers whether the participants were processing memories related to objects or memories related to scenes. "Our data suggest that spindles facilitate processing of relevant memory features during sleep and that this process boosts memory consolidation," says Staresina. "While it has been shown previously," he continues, "that targeted memory reactivation can boost memory consolidation during sleep, we now show that sleep spindles might represent the key underlying mechanism." Cairney adds, "When you are awake you learn new things, but when you are asleep you refine them, making it easier to retrieve them and apply them correctly when you need them the most. This is important for how we learn but also for how we might help retain healthy brain functions." 

    Staresina suggests that this newly gained knowledge could lead to effective strategies for boosting memory while sleeping.

    So, though learning things from scratch à la "Dexter's Lab" may take a while to become a reality, we can safely say that our brains continue to learn while we sleep, and that researchers just got a lot closer to understanding why this happens.

From: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/Mar/2018

The novelty of the research mentioned in the text is related to the

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

Purposes of Religious Education

 

Religious Education and the subjects of the National Curriculum form the basic curriculum. The National Curriculum Handbook (DfES 2000) asserts that:7

"Religious Education makes a distinctive contribution to the school curriculum by developing pupils' knowledge and understanding of religion, religious beliefs, practices, language and traditions and their influence on individuals, communities, societies and cultures. It enables pupils to consider and respond to a range of important questions related to their own spiritual development, the development of values and attitudes and fundamental questions concerning the meaning and purpose of life." Religious Education (RE) is an essential component of a broad and balanced education. Religious Education is concerned with the deep meaning that individuals and groups make of their experiences and how this helps them give purpose to their lives. It provides opportunities to explore make and respond to the meanings of those experiences in relation to the beliefs and experiences of others as well as to one's own experiences. RE's place in the curriculum is underpinned by values and purposes (which are specified in the National Curriculum, 2000 alongside the QCA/DfES National RE Framework, 2004). Along with the other subjects of the curriculum, RE aims:
To provide opportunities for all pupils to learn and to achieve. To promote pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and to prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of the present and the future. The Sandwell Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education has four purposes, which are parallel to the four main purposes of the National Curriculum. A) To establish an entitlement. The Agreed Syllabus secures for all pupils, irrespective of social background, culture, race, religion, gender, differences in ability and disabilities, an entitlement to learning in Religious Education. This contributes to their developing knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes, which are necessary for their personal fulfillment and development as active and responsible citizens. B) To establish standards. The Agreed Syllabus makes expectations for learning and attainment explicit to pupils, parents, teachers, governors, employers and the public, and establishes standards for the performance of all pupils in Religious Education. These standards may be used to set targets for improvement and measure progress towards those targets. C) To promote continuity and coherence. The Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education contributes to a coherent curriculum that promotes continuity. It facilitates the transition of pupils between schools and phases of education and can provide
foundations for further study and lifelong learning. D) To promote public understanding.

Disponívelem:http://www.sandwell.gov.uk/info/200295/schools_and_ lear ning/965/ religious_education/5 .Acessado em: 04 abr. 2019.

De acordo o texto, a Educação Religiosa.

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the following text carefully and mark the correct alternative that completes the sentences presented after it.

 

International Civil Defence Organisation

 

1. Introduction

Fires are the accidents which occur most frequently, whose causes are the most diverse and which require intervention methods and techniques adapted to the conditions and needs of each incident. Depending on the type of fire (nature of the material ablaze), meteorological conditions (wind) and the effectiveness of the intervention, material damage can be limited (a single car, building or production or storage warehouse installation), or affect wide areas (forest or agricultural fires, hydrocarbons, gas or other highly flammable products, storage or piping installations, harbour installations and rail or marine transport equipment). […]

 

2. Preventive and protective measures

Fires can spread more or less rapidly depending on their causes, the nature of the material and goods alight, the fire prevention installations (automatic sprinklers), meteorological conditions, the ways the population is informed and the initiative it shows, as well as the speed and efficiency of the intervening services and of their fire-fighting equipment. In the light of experience, prevention is seen to be most important and consists of two distinct components. On the one hand, the primary responsibility falling upon the political authorities empowered to implement the legal prescriptions concerning fire protection, to forecast accidents and to inform the population, as well as to set up measures and means for fighting fires and explosions. On the other hand, the responsible behaviour of each individual based upon an education geared towards caution and the respect of instructions in case of fire. Defining, and controlling the implementation of, the particular rules of protection against fires, specific to each enterprise presenting a potential danger, including the training of security personnel, is also relevant in this context. The many types of fire and the preventive and protective measures which relate to them, make it advisable to limit the present study to the specific measures falling to the political authorities in one area only, namely that of “forest fires”. This type of fire is of particular interest to developing countries and the preventive measures to be applied have a general representative value, that is:

– organising an observation service, prevention and alarm (security) service at local and regional levels;

– implementing legislation regulating the use of fire by all the population present in or at the edge of forests, and more particularly by owners and individuals exercising a professional activity in sensitive areas;

– planning and concrete preparation (periodic maintenance) for fire-fighting through adequate landscaping of the territory and appropriate forest cultivation limiting fire propagation (alternating vegetation, clearance, trimming), creating and maintaining access paths (extinction) and fire-break areas as well as fire-fighting equipment such as water supplies (conduits, cisterns), watch towers and meteorological posts, and the construction of helicopter landing pads;

– surveillance and detection of fires as soon as the danger of fires is forecast by the ad hoc meteorological service (which comprises automatic or mobile statistics posts observing the winds and the vegetation: dryness, force, direction, evolution);

– as soon as the danger of fire increases, activating an alarm plan (basic intervention plan) requiring the engagement of preventive intervention squads (firemen), and their wide positioning as near as possible to the threatened zones, and making available water bombers and specialised aerial machines ready for action;

– preparation and concretisation (organisation) of an intervention mechanism: this requires the setting up of specialised management programmes ensuring the coordination of powerful and efficient equipment and means for fighting forest fires (instruction);

According to the text, in a fire incident

This saying stresses the importance of being

TEXTO

Power napping is good for the I.Q.

    Health professionals increasingly recognize the
importance of eight hours’ sleep a night. Scientists
now believe that sleep is the single most important
factor for general health, more important than diet or
[5] exercise. Sleep is the only treatment that can claim to
restore, rejuvenate, and energize both the body and
the brain. The third of our lives that we spend asleep
has a profound effect on the two-thirds that we spend
awake – affecting our mood, memory, alertness, and
[10] performance.
    Studies show that people in the developed
world increasingly spend less time asleep and more
time at work or traveling to and from work. Dr. Karine
Spiegel, at the University of Chicago, has found that
[15] the average length of sleep in developed nations has
declined from nine hours in 1910 to seven-and-a-half
hours today. However, we are biologically ill-equipped
to function on little sleep; and losing just one or two
hours’ sleep a night over a long period of time can
[20] have a serious effect on someone’s health.
    According to Canadian scientist Dr. Stanley
Coren, every hour of sleep lost in a night also causes
us to drop one I.Q. point the next day. In a week of
five- or six-hour nights, the average person’s I.Q. could
[25] drop 15 points; thus, a normally intelligent person
starts to have a hard time functioning at all.
    Most sleep experts agree that humans are
designed to sleep for at least eight hours, but this
should be in two stages: a long sleep at night and a
[30] shorter nap in the afternoon. American companies are
paying attention to this and are reporting increased
levels of alertness in employees who “power nap” at

some point during the afternoon, if only for 20 minutes.
The argument is that those who are not sleep-deprived
[35] are much more efficient at work.
The test used to determine sleep deprivation is
called the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, or MSLT. In
an MSLT, an individual remains in a darkened, quiet
room during the day. According to the theory, the
[40] more sleep-deprived the individual is, the less time it
takes that person to fall asleep. If it takes ten minutes
or longer to fall into a light sleep, the participant is
probably getting enough sleep; anything less shows
moderate sleep deprivation. However, the time of year
[45] seems to affect how much sleep an individual requires.
People tend to sleep as long as 14 hours in the winter
and as little as six hours in summer, without ill effects.

RICHARDS, Jack; ECKSTUT-DIDIER, Samuela. Strategic reading 1: building effective reading skills. Cambridge, 2003. p 122.

The MSLT