Module G Unseen: Remember When...?

Paragraph 1 Most of us don't have any memories from the first three to four years of our lives - in fact we tend to remember very little of our life before the age of seven. Even the early memories we think we have may not be the real thing, but merely recollections we formed much later based on photos and on stories we've heard over the years. Although the absence of early memories has been documented for over a century, scientists are still trying to gain an understanding of it. 1. What do we learn from Paragraph 1 about our early memories? How they are being studied. Why they might not be accurate. What events are remembered best. Why they mostly begin at the age of seven. 2. What can we understand about the scientists mentioned in Paragraph 1?COMPLETE THE SENTENCE. They want to find out why it is usually impossible to remember events that happened in the earliest years. Paragraph 2 While adults don't generally recall events that happened during their earliest years, research has shown that very young babies are capable of forming simple memories. In a recent experiment, for example, six-month-old babies discovered that they could make a toy train run by pressing a lever. When given the train again three weeks later, they immediately pressed the lever - a clear indication that they remembered what to do. Furthermore, when the same experiment was done with a group of two-year-olds, they could recall the action for more than a month. All these early memories, however, fade after a few months at most, and it is only years later that children being having memories they can reliably recall. 3. In Paragraph 2, the writer describes an experiment with TWO groups of very young children. What did the researchers find out about the two groups? How quickly both groups learned to perform a certain action. How well each group performed different actions. How many children in both groups could not learn any action. How long each group remembered a certain action. Paragraph 3 The formation of long-lasting memories is now known to be linked to some of the physical changes that occur in the brain during childhood. One of the most significant outcomes of these changes is the development of verbal capabilities: between the ages of one and six, children progress from using single words to talking in whole sentences. Interestingly, researchers have found that a child's ability to speak about an event at the time it happens can predict how well that event is remembered. One research team, for example, interviewed a group of young children several years after they had been treated in hospital for common childhood injuries. It was found that the ones who could already talk fluently at the time of the hospital visit recalled many details of the experience. Those who had not yet developed language skills had little or no recollection of it during the interview. 4. What sequence of events is described in Paragraph 3? Fill in the missing information below. (sentence 1 and sentence 3) (1) Some physical changes occur in the brain during childhood.(2) Consequently, children's ability to speak develops.(3) This seems to help them remember events details of an experience. 5. The word "yet" as it is used in the last sentence of Paragraph 3 means "at the time when_". the research team reached its conclusions the researchers interviewed the children the children developed good language skills the children were treated for injuries Paragraph 4 But even before the brain develops its full memory function, parents and other family members can help very young children from rich memories. The best way is to engage them in conversation about past events. For instance, a father can talk to his five-year-old daughter about her last birthday party, asking her simple questions (who came, what presents she got) and adding extra information after each of her answers. A full, complex story of the event can thus be built around whatever she herself remembers. Research has shown that children in families where stories are told and retold in this manner subsequently develop stronger and more detailed memories of their lives in the past. 6. What can we infer from Paragraph 4? Memory function develops more slowly than other brain functions. Happy events are the easiest for children to remember. Parents don't spend enough time with their children. Memory function is not fully developed at the age of five., 7.According to Paragraph 4, how might the daughter in the example benefit from the conversation with her father? COMPLETE THE SENTENCE. She might be able to develop stronger and more detailed memories.