IELTS Reading 練習 記憶的科學（含題目+詳解）

The Science of Memory

A. Although we speak of "memory" as if it were a single faculty, modern psychology treats it as a family of related but distinct systems. Each system has its own time-scale, its own preferred kind of information and, in many cases, its own distinct neural circuitry. The most influential framework, proposed in the 1960s by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin, divides memory into three stages — sensory, short-term and long-term — that information must pass through in sequence.

B. Sensory memory is by far the briefest. The visual trace of a passing scene fades within roughly half a second; an echo of a sound persists for two or three seconds at most. Most of this information is discarded entirely, never reaching conscious awareness. Only the small fraction that is selectively attended to is passed forward. This filtering, far from being a defect, is what allows the brain to function at all in a world of overwhelming sensory input.

C. Short-term memory, often called working memory in modern accounts, holds attended information for seconds to a minute and is sharply limited in capacity. The classic estimate by George Miller in 1956 was "seven, plus or minus two" items, although later researchers have argued that the true figure for unrelated items is closer to four. Information here is fragile: a brief distraction can erase a phone number that has not yet been written down.

D. Long-term memory, by contrast, can store enormous quantities of information for decades. It is also itself subdivided. Declarative memory holds facts and personal events that can be consciously recalled, while procedural memory holds skills — riding a bicycle, typing a familiar password — that the body performs without verbal description. Brain-injury studies have shown that these subsystems can be damaged independently: a patient unable to form new conscious memories may still learn motor skills perfectly well.

E. Central to the formation of new declarative memories is a structure called the hippocampus, a curved region buried within the temporal lobe. Damage here, as in the famous case of Henry Molaison, leaves earlier memories largely intact but prevents the encoding of new ones. The hippocampus does not seem to be the permanent storage site itself; rather, it appears to bind together the scattered cortical traces that, over weeks and years, become a stable memory.

The passage has five paragraphs, A-E. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B, C, and D from the list below.

• i. A binding role in the temporal lobe
• ii. Brief traces and useful filtering
• iii. Limited capacity, easily disrupted
• iv. Long-term storage in two distinct forms
• v. Three stages in sequence
• vi. Memory shaped by emotion alone

1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph C
3. Paragraph D

1. Most of the information in sensory memory never enters conscious awareness.
2. Later researchers have suggested that working memory holds more than seven unrelated items.
3. Procedural memory and declarative memory rely on the same brain regions.

Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

1. Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed three memory stages that information must pass through in ______.
2. Long-term memory is divided into declarative and ______ memory.
3. The hippocampus is described as binding together scattered ______ that eventually form stable memories.

1. ii — Brief traces and useful filtering Paragraph B describes sensory memory's brevity ("fades within roughly half a second") and ends by praising the "filtering" as what allows the brain to function. Both halves of the heading match.

2. iii — Limited capacity, easily disrupted Paragraph C: "sharply limited in capacity" and "a brief distraction can erase a phone number that has not yet been written down". "Easily disrupted" paraphrases the second clause.

3. iv — Long-term storage in two distinct forms Paragraph D opens with the long-term system and immediately splits it into declarative and procedural — two distinct forms.

4. TRUE Supporting sentence: "Most of this information is discarded entirely, never reaching conscious awareness". Direct paraphrase.

5. FALSE Supporting sentence: "later researchers have argued that the true figure for unrelated items is closer to four". Closer to four is fewer than seven, not more. The statement contradicts the passage.

6. NOT GIVEN The passage says brain injury can damage them independently, which suggests at least partial separation, but it does not state explicitly that they share or do not share the same regions. Don't infer — NOT GIVEN.

7. sequence Supporting sentence: "three stages — sensory, short-term and long-term — that information must pass through in sequence". Single-word answer.

8. procedural Supporting sentence: "Declarative memory holds facts and personal events ... while procedural memory holds skills". Single-word answer; the question supplies "declarative".

9. cortical traces Supporting sentence: "it appears to bind together the scattered cortical traces that, over weeks and years, become a stable memory". Two-word phrase from the text.