The Creation of Lasting Memories Reading Answers
In The Creation of Lasting Memories Reading Answers there are questions to answer following the passage. Candidates' reading abilities are assessed in the IELTS Reading section by presenting them with a passage and questions. Candidates must react to a variety of questions, each of which is unique. The IELTS Reading part tests students' comprehension skills using a range of problem types. In this portion - The Creation of Lasting Memories Reading Answers - there are three types of questions
- Complete the summary
- Choose the correct letter
- Yes, No, Not Given
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Section 1
Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions
The Creation of Lasting Memories Reading Answers
- Many studies of the brain processes underlying the creation of memory consolidation (lasting memories) have involved giving various human and animal subjects treatment, while training them to perform a task. These have contributed greatly to our understanding.
- In pioneering studies using goldfish, Bernard Agranoff found that protein synthesis inhibitors injected after training caused the goldfish to forget what they had learned. In other experiments, he administered protein synthesis inhibitors immediately before the fish were trained. The remarkable finding was that the fish learned the task completely normally, but forgot it within a few hours - that is, the protein synthesis inhibitors blocked memory consolidation, but did not influence short-term memory.
- There is now extensive evidence that short-term memory is spared by many kinds of treatments, including electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), that block memory consolidation. On the other hand, and equally importantly, neuroscientist Ivan Izquierdo found that many drug treatments can block short-term memory without blocking memory consolidation. Contrary to the hypothesis put forward by Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb, in 1949, long-term memory does not require short-term memory, and vice versa.
- Such findings suggest that our experiences create parallel, and possibly independent stages of memory, each with a different life span. All of this evidence from clinical and experimental studies strongly indicates that the brain handles recent and remote memory in different ways; but why does it do that?
- We obviously need to have memory that is created rapidly: reacting to an ever and rapidly changing environment requires that. For example, most current building codes require that the heights of all steps in a staircase be equal. After taking a couple of steps, up or down, we implicitly remember the heights of the steps and assume that the others will be the same. If they are not the same, we are very likely to trip and fall. Lack of this kind of rapidly created implicit memory would be bad for us and for insurance companies, but perhaps good for lawyers. It would be of little value to us if we remembered the heights of the steps only after a delay of many hours, when the memory becomes consolidated.
- The hypothesis that lasting memory consolidates slowly over time is supported primarily by clinical and experimental evidence that the formation of long-term memory is influenced by treatments and disorders affecting brain functioning. There are also other kinds of evidence indicating more directly that the memories consolidate over time after learning. Avi Kami and Dov Sagi reported that the performance of human subjects trained in a visual skill did not improve until eight hours after the training was completed, and that improvement was even greater the following day. Furthermore, the skill was retained for several years.
- Studies using human brain imaging to study changes in neural activity induced by learning have also reported that the changes continue to develop for hours after learning. In an innovative study using functional imaging of the brain, Reza Shadmehr and Henry Holcomb examined brain activity in several brain regions shortly after human subjects were trained in a motor learning task requiring arm and hand movements. They found that while the performance of the subjects remained stable for several hours after completion of the training, their brain activity did not; different regions of the brain were predominantly active at different times over a period of several hours after the training. The activity shifted from the prefrontal cortex to two areas known to be involved in controlling movements, the motor cortex and cerebellar cortex. Consolidation of the motor skill appeared to involve activation of different neural systems that increased the stability of the brain processes underlying the skill.
- There is also evidence that learning-induced changes in the activity of neurons in the cerebral cortex continue to increase for many days after the training. In an extensive series of studies using rats with electrodes implanted in the auditory cortex, Norman Weinberger reported that, after a tone of specific frequency was paired a few times with footshock, neurons in the rats’ auditory cortex responded more to that specific tone and less to other tones of other frequencies. Even more interestingly, the selectivity of the neurons’ response to the specific tone used in training continued to increase for several days after the training was terminated.
- It is not intuitively obvious why our lasting memories consolidate slowly. Certainly, one can wonder why we have a form of memory that we have to rely on for many hours, days or a lifetime, that is so susceptible to disruption shortly after it is initiated. Perhaps the brain system that consolidates long-term memory over time was a late development in vertebrate evolution. Moreover, maybe we consolidate memories slowly because our mammalian brains are large and enormously complex. We can readily reject these ideas. All species of animals studied to date have both short and long-term memory; and all are susceptible to retrograde amnesia. Like humans, birds, bees, and molluscs, as well as fish and rats, make long-term memories slowly. Consolidation of memory clearly emerged early in evolution, and was conserved.
- Although there seems to be no compelling reason to conclude that a biological system such as a brain could not quickly make a lasting memory, the fact is that animal brains do not. Thus, memory consolidation must serve some very important adaptive function or functions. There is considerable evidence suggesting that the slow consolidation is adaptive because it enables neurobiological processes occurring shortly after learning to influence the strength of memory for experiences. The extensive evidence that memory can be enhanced, as well as impaired, by treatments administered shortly after training, provides intriguing support for this hypothesis.
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Section 2
Solution with Explanation
Question 1-5:
Choose the correct letter A, B, C, or D
- Experiments by Bernard Agranoff described in Reading Passage involved
- Injecting goldfish at different stages of the experiment
- Training goldfish to do different type of tasks
- Using different type of treatment on Goldfish
- Comparing the performance of different goldfish on certain tasks
Answer: A. Injecting goldfish at different stages of the experiment
Supporting Sentence: In pioneering studies using goldfish, Bernard Agranoff found that protein synthesis inhibitors injected after training caused the goldfish to forget what they had learned.
Keyword: Bernard Agranoff, goldfish, experiments
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, 1st &3rd Line
Explanation: the passage says that protein synthesis inhibitors were injected after training and also that protein synthesis inhibitors were administered i.e., injected before training which means the injections were given to fish at different stages of experiment which are before and after training.
- Most findings from recent studies suggest that
- Drug treatments do not normally affect short term memories
- Long term memories build upon short term memories
- Short- and long-term memories are formed by separate processes
- ECT treatment affects both short- and long-term memories
Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Such findings suggest that our experiences create parallel, and possibly independent stages of memory, each with a different life span.
Keyword: memory, independent, life span, findings
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, 1st & 2nd line
Explanation: the passage states that there are findings which suggest our experiences create independent stages of memory and each of those has a different life span which means some last longer while others don’t. Thus, long- and short-term memory are created by different processes because each memory with a specific life span is independent of the other memory which has a life span longer or shorter than that.
- In the fifth paragraph what does the writer want to show by the example of staircases?
- Prompt memory formation underlies the performance of everyday tasks
- Routine tasks can be carried out unconsciously
- Physical accidents can impair the function of memory
- Complex information such as regulation can’t be retained by the memory
Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: For example, most current building codes require that the heights of all steps in a staircase be equal.
Keyword: example, staircase, memory, rapidly
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, 1st, 2nd & 4th Line
Explanation: the fifth paragraph says that we need memory that is created rapidly i.e., prompt memory formation because it’s required to react to our rapidly changing environment and hence staircases of equal lengths are mentioned as example because prompt memory is formed regarding their height as its same all over and those who have to climb it every day will remember it and not fall.
- Observations about memory by Kami and Sagi
- Cast doubt on existing hypotheses
- Related only to short-term memory
- Were based on tasks involving hearing
- Confirmed other experimental findings
Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: Avi Kami and Dov Sagi reported that the performance of human subjects trained in a visual skill did not improve until eight hours after the training was completed, and that improvement was even greater the following day.
Keyword: Kami, Sagi, other kinds of evidence
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, 4th & 6th Line
Explanation: the passage mentions Kami and Sagi after claiming that there are other kinds of evidence regarding memory consolidation which means Kami and Sagi are mentioned as that other kind of evidence whose purpose is to confirm other experimental findings.
- What did the experiment by Shadmehr and Holocomb show?
- Different areas of the brain were activated by different tasks
- Activity in the brain gradually moved from one area to other areas
- Subjects continued to get better at a task after training had finished.
- Treatment given to subjects improved their performance on a task
Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: Reza Shadmehr and Henry Holcomb examined brain activity in several brain regions shortly after human subjects were trained in a motor learning task requiring arm and hand movements.
Keyword: Shadmehr, Holocomb, different regions of brain
Keyword Location: Paragraph G, 4th & 9th Line.
Explanation: Shadmehr and Holocomb found different regions/areas of brains were active at different times which means the brain activity was moving from one area to other keeping one area of brain active at one time.
Questions 6-10:
Do the following Statements agree with the views of the writer in the Reading Passage?
In boxes 6-10 in your answer sheet, write
YES, if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO, if the information provided is contradictory to the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information to corroborate with the views of the writer
- The training which Kami and Sagi’s subjects were given was repeated over several days
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Supporting Sentence: Avi Kami and Dov Sagi reported that the performance of human subjects trained in a visual skill did not improve until eight hours after the training was completed, and that improvement was even greater the following day.
Keyword: Kami , Dov Sagi
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, 3rd line
Explanation: As informed in the passage, Avi Kami and Dov Sagi reported that the performance of human subjects trained in a visual skill did not improve until eight hours after the training was completed. This does not mention several days and hence, Not Given is the correct answer.
- The rats in Weinberger’s studies learned to associate a certain sound with a specific experience
Answer: YES
Supporting Sentence: In an extensive series of studies using rats with electrodes implanted in the auditory cortex, Norman Weinberger reported that, after a tone of specific frequency was paired a few times with foot shock, neurons in the rats’ auditory cortex responded more to that specific tone and less to other tones of other frequencies.
Keyword: rats, Weinberger, specific
Keyword Location: Paragraph G, 3rd, 4th & 6th Line
Explanation: the passage says that a tone which means a sound of specific frequency was paired with foot shock and later rats’ auditory cortex responded more that sound. This could have happened because rats had learnt that this particular sound means foot shock and that’s how they associated a sound with an experience, foot shock in this case.
- The results of Weinberger’s studies indicated that the strength of the rats’ learned associations increases with time.
Answer: YES
Supporting Sentence: Even more interestingly, the selectivity of the neurons’ response to the specific tone used in training continued to increase for several days after the training was terminated.
Keyword: increase, training
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, 9th Line
Explanation: the passage mentions that the selectivity of neuron’s response continued to increase which means that neuron’s response which was used to establish association of a sound with a particular experience was becoming increasingly selective which means its strength increased.
- It is easy to see the evolutionary advantage of the way lasting memories in humans are created.
Answer: NO
Supporting Sentence: It is not intuitively obvious why our lasting memories consolidate slowly.
Keyword: not intuitively obvious, lasting memories
Keyword Location: Paragraph I, 1st Line
Explanation: intuitive obviousness refers to something easy to see while the passage says that it isn’t intuitively obvious why lasting memories consolidate slowly while it is not easy to see the evolutionary advantage of our lasting memories being created slowly.
- Long-term memories in humans are more stable than in many other species.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Supporting Sentence: Perhaps the brain system that consolidates long-term memory over time was a late development in vertebrate evolution.
Keyword: memory, brain
Keyword Location: Paragraph I, 3rd line
Explanation: It is mentioned that the brain system that consolidates long-term memory over time was a late development in vertebrate evolution. However, anything regarding the stability is not mentioned in the passage.
Question 11-14:
Complete the Summary using the list of words A-I given below
Various researchers have examined the way lasting memories are formed. Laboratory experiments usually involve teaching subjects to do something (11) ………. and treating them with mild electric shocks or drugs. Other studies monitor behavior after a learning experience or use sophisticated equipment to observe brain activity.
The results are generally consistent: they show that lasting memories are the result of a (12) ………. and complex biological process.
The fact that humans share this trait with other species, including animals with (13) ……… brains, suggests that it developed (14) ……… in our evolutionary history.
| A Early | B Easy | C Large | D Late | E Lengthy |
| F New | G Recently | H Small | I Quick | - |
- Various researchers have examined the way lasting memories are formed. Laboratory experiments usually involve teaching subjects to do something _________ and treating them with mild electric shocks or drugs.
Answer: F
Supporting Sentence: Many studies of the brain processes underlying the creation of memory consolidation (lasting memories) have involved giving various human and animal subjects treatment, while training them to perform a task.
Keyword: memories, training
Keyword Location: Paragraph A, 2nd & 3rd Line
Explanation: the passage claims that the exercise of figuring out how memories are consolidated involves giving training to various animals & humans and since its an experimentation something must always be done to collect data or explore all possibilities.
- The results are generally consistent: they show that lasting memories are the result of a _________ and complex biological process.
Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: The hypothesis that lasting memory consolidates slowly over time is supported primarily by clinical and experimental evidence that the formation of long-term memory is influenced by treatments and disorders affecting brain functioning.
Keyword: lasting memories, evidence
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, 1st & 2nd Line
Explanation: the passage says that lasting memories consolidate slowly which means the process is lengthy and it’s influenced by treatments and disorders affecting brain functioning which are complex processes of biology since the brain is complex itself.
- The fact that humans share this trait with other species, including animals with _________ brains
Answer: H
Supporting Sentence: Moreover, maybe we consolidate memories slowly because our mammalian brains are large and enormously complex.
Keyword: brains, species, animals
Keyword Location: Paragraph I, 7th & 8th Line
Explanation: The passage says that all species of animals have both short- and long-term memory and humans have it as well while mentioning our brains are large causing slow consolidation, but the animals studied can come in all shapes and sizes which means some of them have small brains too unlike us.
- The fact that humans share this trait with other species, including animals with small brains, suggests that it developed ___________ in our evolutionary history.
Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: Consolidation of memory clearly emerged early in evolution and was conserved.
Keyword: memory, evolution
Keyword Location: Paragraph I, 11th &12th Line
Explanation: the passage clearly states the Consolidation of memory emerged early in evolution; this emergence can also be said to be the development of Consolidation of Memory.
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