Study: ability to multi-task wanes with age

     BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The elderly have a difficult time with multi-tasking as a study suggests that older brains behave differently when it comes to switching between two tasks, according to media reports on Tuesday.

    Researchers used functional¹ magnetic（磁性的） resonance² imaging (FMRI) to analyze³ brain activity in 20 people over age 60 by asking them to contemplate⁴ outdoor photos shown briefly⁵.

    Then the elderly were presented with the picture of a face and asked to determine its gender⁶ and age, before being asked to recall details from the original scene they viewed.

    Researchers then compared their results to a similar experiment with 20 younger adults and found the brains of older subjects were less capable of disengaging from the interruption and reestablishing the neural⁷ connections necessary to switch back to focusing on the original memory.

    "Unlike younger individuals, older adults failed to both disengage from the interruption and re-establish functional connections associated with the disrupted memory network," write Wesley C. Clapp of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues in the Proceedings⁸ of the National Academy of Sciences.

    The study, published in the online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds new lights into a growing body of studies showing that one's ability to move from one task to another in quick succession becomes more difficult with age.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

2 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

3 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

4 contemplate   

vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视

参考例句：

• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
• The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

8 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼