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Wangqh2696122 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Which of the following is Not true?
According to Hill and Hertwig, which of the following is Not true?
A. Cognitive-enhancing drugs can make us smarter.
B. Good attitude may help us more intelligent.
C. Memory is sometimes good and bad at other times.
I think none of the above is true, but the given answer is B. Personally, the question writer has a mistaken interpretation of the passage. What do you think?
A new research paper argues that there are limits to our mental evolution and that humans are not likely to ever develop a "supermind."
Studies of human evolution show that as natural selection, nutrition, and medical technology have improved, so has the upward trajectory of the human body. But Thomas Hill and Ralph Hertwig write in Current Directions in Psychological Science that our bodies may have their own self-imposed evolutionary ceilings.
"A lot of people are interested in drugs that can enhance cognition in various ways," Hill and Hertwig write. "But it seems natural to ask, why aren't we smarter already?"
According to Hill and Hertwig, humans have grown in height over time but because of the limited ability of the heart to pump blood to the brain, it would not be feasible for people to suddenly become eight feet tall. Likewise, sudden growths in brain capacity are most likely limited by our own evolutionary caps:
A baby's brain size is thought to be limited by, among other things, the size of the mother's pelvis; bigger brains could mean more deaths in childbirth, and the pelvis can't change substantially without changing the way we stand and walk.
Hill and Hertwig also argue that supposed cognitive-enhancing drugs like Ritalin and amphetamines may temporarily improve focus, but usually only work on people with "lower baseline abilities," and those who don't suffer from conditions like Attention Deficit Disorder actually perform at lower levels under their influence.
"If you have a specific task that requires more memory or more speed or more accuracy or whatever, then you could potentially take an enhancer that increases your capacity for that task," the two write. "But it would be wrong to think that this is going to improve your abilities all across the board."
And then there are the psychological and emotional issues associated with higher intelligence. Hill and Hertwig point to conditions like post traumatic stress disorder, a condition brought on when someone literally cannot forget a past trauma. They also point to the case of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_intelligence but also disproportionately suffer fromTay-Sachs disease.
"Memory is a double-edged sword," Hills says. "If something bad happens, you want to be able to forget it, to move on."
A. Cognitive-enhancing drugs can make us smarter.
B. Good attitude may help us more intelligent.
C. Memory is sometimes good and bad at other times.
I think none of the above is true, but the given answer is B. Personally, the question writer has a mistaken interpretation of the passage. What do you think?
A new research paper argues that there are limits to our mental evolution and that humans are not likely to ever develop a "supermind."
Studies of human evolution show that as natural selection, nutrition, and medical technology have improved, so has the upward trajectory of the human body. But Thomas Hill and Ralph Hertwig write in Current Directions in Psychological Science that our bodies may have their own self-imposed evolutionary ceilings.
"A lot of people are interested in drugs that can enhance cognition in various ways," Hill and Hertwig write. "But it seems natural to ask, why aren't we smarter already?"
According to Hill and Hertwig, humans have grown in height over time but because of the limited ability of the heart to pump blood to the brain, it would not be feasible for people to suddenly become eight feet tall. Likewise, sudden growths in brain capacity are most likely limited by our own evolutionary caps:
A baby's brain size is thought to be limited by, among other things, the size of the mother's pelvis; bigger brains could mean more deaths in childbirth, and the pelvis can't change substantially without changing the way we stand and walk.
Hill and Hertwig also argue that supposed cognitive-enhancing drugs like Ritalin and amphetamines may temporarily improve focus, but usually only work on people with "lower baseline abilities," and those who don't suffer from conditions like Attention Deficit Disorder actually perform at lower levels under their influence.
"If you have a specific task that requires more memory or more speed or more accuracy or whatever, then you could potentially take an enhancer that increases your capacity for that task," the two write. "But it would be wrong to think that this is going to improve your abilities all across the board."
And then there are the psychological and emotional issues associated with higher intelligence. Hill and Hertwig point to conditions like post traumatic stress disorder, a condition brought on when someone literally cannot forget a past trauma. They also point to the case of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_intelligence but also disproportionately suffer fromTay-Sachs disease.
"Memory is a double-edged sword," Hills says. "If something bad happens, you want to be able to forget it, to move on."
Top answer
Hmm. "If you have a specific task that requires more memory or more speed or more accuracy or whatever, then you could potentially take an enhancer that increases your capacity for that task... "
- Hmm.
- "If you have a specific task that requires more memory or more speed or more accuracy or whatever, then you could potentially take an enhancer that increases your capacity for that task...
- "
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4 Answers
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Hmm. I'd say that mention of or reference to B does not occur in the passage and that the answer is A:
Hill and Hertwig also argue that supposed cognitive-enhancing drugs...may temporarily improve focus..."If you have a specific task that requires more memory or more speed or more accuracy or whatever, then you could potentially take an enhancer that increases your capacity for
Hill and Hertwig also argue that supposed cognitive-enhancing drugs...may temporarily improve focus..."If you have a specific task that requires more memory or more speed or more accuracy or whatever, then you could potentially take an enhancer that increases your capacity for
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A. Cognitive-enhancing drugs can make us smarter. - True, but for very limited situations, not in general.
B. Good attitude may help us more intelligent.. - Badly formed statement, but attitude is never mentioned in the passage.
C. Memory is sometimes good and bad at other times. - True, as explained in the passage.
B. Good attitude may help us more intelligent.. - Badly formed statement, but attitude is never mentioned in the passage.
C. Memory is sometimes good and bad at other times. - True, as explained in the passage.
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B. appears to be the right answer. The questions are related to the article only, and the article mentions the value of cognitive-enhancing drugs, in certain limited areas, and it mentions that memory can be good or bad, depending on the context. It mentions nothing about good attitude as it related to intelligence.
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Well, one of us has been caught in the expression of the question. The question reads "According to Hill and Hertwig, which of the following is not true?" The question to me speaks to the statements within the text:
A. Cognitive-enhancing drugs can make us smarter.-- Not true (as per the excerpt I quoted above).
B. Good attitude may help us more intelligent.- Neither t
A. Cognitive-enhancing drugs can make us smarter.-- Not true (as per the excerpt I quoted above).
B. Good attitude may help us more intelligent.- Neither t
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