TPO13托福阅读Passage3 Methods of Studying Infant Perception文本+题目原文+答案解析

 Methods of Studying Infant Perception

In the study of perceptual abilities of infants, a number of techniques are used to determine infants' responses to various stimuli. Because they cannot verbalize or fill out questionnaires, indirect techniques of naturalistic observation are used as the primary means of determining what infants can see, hear, feel, and so forth. Each of these methods compares an infant's state prior to the introduction of a stimulus with its state during or immediately following the stimulus. The difference between the two measures provides the researcher with an indication of the level and duration of the response to the stimulus. For example, if a uniformly moving pattern of some sort is passed across the visual field of a neonate (new born), repetitive following movements of the eye occur. The occurrence of these eye movements provides evidence that the moving pattern is perceived at some level by the newborn. Similarly, changes in the infant's general level of motor activity —turning the head, blinking the eyes, crying, and so forth — have been used by researchers as visual indicators of the infant's perceptual abilities.

Such techniques, however, have limitations. First, the observation may be unreliable in that two or more observers may not agree that the particular response occurred, or to what degree it occurred. Second, responses are difficult to quantify. Often the rapid and diffuse movements of the infant make it difficult to get an accurate record of the number of responses. The third, and most potent, limitation is that it is not possible to be certain that the infant's response was due to the stimulus presented or to a change from no stimulus to a stimulus. The infant may be responding to aspects of the stimulus different than those identified by the investigator. Therefore, when observational assessment is used as a technique for  studying infant perceptual abilities, care must be taken not to overgeneralize from the data or to rely on one or two studies as conclusive evidence of a particular perceptual ability of the infant.

Observational assessment techniques have become much more sophisticated, reducing the limitations just presented. Film analysis of the infant's responses, heart and respiration rate monitors, and nonnutritive sucking devices are used as effective tools in understanding infant perception. ■Film analysis permits researchers to carefully study the infant's responses over and over and in slow motion. ■Precise measurements can be made of the length and frequency of the infant's attention between two stimuli. ■Heart and respiration monitors provide the investigator with the number of heartbeats or breaths taken when a new stimulus is presented. ■Numerical increases are used as quantifiable indicators of heightened interest in the new stimulus. Increases in nonnutntive sucking were first used as an assessment measure by researchers in 1969. They devised an apparatus that connected a baby's pacifier to a counting device. As stimuli were presented, changes in the infant's sucking behavior were recorded. Increases in the number of sucks were used as an indicator of the infant's attention to or preference for a given visual display.

Two additional techniques of studying infant perception have come into vogue. The first is the habituation-dishabituation technique, in which a single stimulus is presented repeatedly to the infant until there is a measurable decline (habituation) in whatever attending behavior is being observed. At that point a new stimulus is presented, and any recovery (dishabituation) in responsiveness is recorded. If the infant fails to dishabituate and continues to show habituation with the new stimulus, it is assumed that the baby is unable to perceive the new stimulus as different. The habituation-dishabituation paradigm has been used most extensively with studies of auditory and olfactory perception in infants. The second technique relies on evoked potentials, which are electrical brain responses that may be related to a particular stimulus because of where they originate. Changes in the electrical pattern of the brain indicate that the stimulus is getting through to the infant's central nervous system and eliciting some form of response.

Each of the preceding techniques provides the researcher with evidence that the infant can detect or discriminate between stimuli. With these sophisticated observational assessment and electro physiological measures, we know that the neonate of only a few days is far more perceptive than previously suspected. However, these measures are only "indirect" indicators of the infant's perceptual abilities.

TPO13 托福阅读Passage3 Methods of Studying Infant Perception 题目

Question 1 of 14: Paragraph 1 indicates that researchers use indirect methods primarily to observe the

A. range of motor activity in neonates

B. frequency and duration of various stimuli

C. change in an infant's state following the introduction of a stimulus

D. range of an infant's visual field

Question 2 of 14: The word “uniformly” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. clearly

B. quickly

C. consistently

D. occasionally

Question 3 of 14: Why does the author mention repetitive following movements of the eye ?

A. To identify a response that indicates a neonate's perception of a stimulus

B. To explain why a neonate is capable of responding to stimuli only through repetitive movements

C. To argue that motor activity in a neonate may be random and unrelated to stimuli

D. To emphasize that responses to stimuli vary in infants according to age

Question 4 of 14: Paragraph 2：Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 2 as a problem in using the technique of direct observation?

A. It is impossible to be certain of the actual cause of an infant's response.

B. Infants' responses, which occur quickly and diffusely, are often difficult to measure.

C. Infants do not respond well to stimuli presented in an unnatural laboratory setting.

D. It may be difficult for observers to agree on the presence or the degree of a response.

Question 5 of 14: The word “potent” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. artificial

B. powerful

C. common

D. similar

Question 6 of 14: Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A. Researchers using observational assessment techniques on infants must not over generalize and must base their conclusions on data from many studies.

B. On the basis of the data from one or two studies, it seems that some infants develop a particular perceptual ability not observed in others.

C. To use data from one or two studies on infant's perceptual abilities, it is necessary to use techniques that will provide conclusive evidence.

D. When researchers fail to make generalizations from their studies, their observed data is often inconclusive.

Question 7 of 14: What is the author's primary purpose in paragraph 3?

A. To explain why researchers must conduct more than one type of study when they are attempting to understand infant perception

B. To describe new techniques for observing infant perception that overcome problems identified in the previous paragraph

C. To present and evaluate the conclusions of various studies on infant perception

D. To point out the strengths and weaknesses of three new methods for quantifying an infant's reaction to stimuli

Question 8 of 14: The word “quantifiable” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. visual

B. permanent

C. meaningful

D. measurable

Question 9 of 14: Paragraph 3 mentions all of the following as indications of an infant's heightened interest in a new stimulus EXCEPT an increase in

A. sucking behavior

B. heart rate

C. the number of breaths taken

D. eye movements

Question 10 of 14:  Paragraph 4：According to paragraph 4, which of the following leads to the conclusion that infants are able to differentiate between stimuli in a habituation dishabituation study?

A. Dishabituation occurs with the introduction of a new stimulus.

B. Electrical responses in the infant's brain decline with each new stimulus.

C. Habituation is continued with the introduction of a new stimulus.

D. The infant displays little change in electrical sbrain responses.

Question 11 of 14: In paragraph 4, what does the author suggest about the way an infant's brain perceives stimuli?

A. An infant's potential to respond to a stimulus may be related to the size of its brain.

B. Changes in the electrical patterns of an infant's brain are difficult to detect.

C. Different areas of an infant's brain respond to different types of stimuli.

D. An infant is unable to perceive more than one stimulus at a time.

Question 12 of 14: Paragraph 5：Paragraph 5 indicates that researchers who used the techniques described in the passage discovered that

A. infants find it difficult to perceive some types of stimuli

B. neonates of only a few days cannot yet discriminate between stimuli

C. observational assessment is less useful for studying infant perception than researchers previously believed

D. a neonate is able to perceive stimuli better than researchers once thought

Question 13 of 14: Paragraph 3：Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.  Where would the sentence best fit?

The repetition allows researchers to observe the infant's behavior until they reach agreement about the presence and the degree of the infant's response.

A. Film analysis permits researchers to carefully study the infant's responses over and over and in slow motion. 

B. Precise measurements can be made of the length and frequency of the infant's attention between two stimuli. 

C. Heart and respiration monitors provide the investigator with the number of heartbeats or breaths taken when a new stimulus is presented. 

D. Numerical increases are used as quantifiable indicators of heightened interest in the new stimulus. 

Question 14 of 14: Researchers use a number of techniques to determine how infants respond to changes in their environment

Answer choices

A. Data from observational methods must be confirmed through multiple studies.

B. New techniques for studying infant perception have improved the accuracy with which researchers observe and quantify infant responses

C. Indirect observation is most accurate when researchers use it to test auditory and olfactory perception in neonates.

D. Visual indicators such as turning the head, blinking the eyes, or crying remain the best evidence of an infant’s perceptual abilities.

E. Pacifiers are commonly used in studies to calm an infant who has been presented with excessive stimuli.

F. Sophisticated techniques that have aided new discoveries about perception in the neonate continue to be indirect measures.

TPO13托福阅读Passage3 Methods of Studying Infant Perception真题解析

Question 1 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：以indirect methods做关键词定位至第二句，提到用间接方法来观察婴儿能看到什么听到什么等等，接下来又说这些方法比较了先前stimulus引入后，婴儿的状态（在stimulus 引入期间和随后的状态），所以答案是C，不管是hear还是see都是婴儿的state，而且只有引入之后的state才能与之前的state对比得出变化。

Question 2 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：uniformly“统一地，一致地，持续地”，所以答案C的consistently正确。原句说如果在新生儿的视野范围内发生怎样的移动，那么他们的眼睛会反复跟着移动，婴儿的眼睛会反复动，当然移动的pattern也是“反复或者持续的”，C正确。

Question 3 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：这个题目和上一题的词汇题关系比较紧密。根据定位信息，看for example这一句定位句和之前的句子，说到两种方法的区别给研究者提供了新生儿对刺激后反应的程度和忍受时长的参考指数，然后列举了一个例子说明，所以综上所述，选择A选项。

Question 4 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：本题用排除法，原文中非常清楚地写到第一、第二、第三，一共三个局限性，也就是三个正确答案，第一点对应D选项，正确，不选；第二点对应B选项，正确，不选；第三点对应A选项，正确，不选；所以C错误，选。

Question 5 of 14

正确答案：B

解析：potent“有力的，有效的”，所以B的powerful正确。从单词本身看，potential叫做“有潜力的，有可能的”，所以potent肯定跟力量或者可能性有关。

Question 6 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：高亮句中有许多被动部分，所以原句换一下主被动的表达方法，用我们最熟悉的形式，应该是we must take care not to be overgeneralize from the data or to rely on one or two studies as conclusive evidence of a particular perceptual ability of the infant when we use observational assessment as a technique for studying infant perceptual abilities. 这样只有A选项最符合。

Question 7 of 14

正确答案：B

解析：看一下第三段的内容和结构，第一句说突破上文所述的限制，Observational assessment techniques变得越来越复杂了。然后接着介绍了film analysis，提到通过越来越先进的技术可以减少上文中提到的局限性，所以选择B选项。

Question 8 of 14

正确答案：D

解析： quantifiable“可计数的，可测量的”，所以D的measurable正确。首先看单词本身，quantifiable“想到”quantity“数量”，所以这个词一定和数字有关，答案中与数字有关的只有measurable“测量的”。原句说数值的增加可以作为什么样的指标，上段说局限性的时候第二个局限性就是难以计量(见第四题)，而这段又说技术进步可以克服局限性，所以这个进步就是克服难以计数这个局限性的。

Question 9 of 14

正确答案：D

解析：排除法。A的sucking behavior做关键词定位至最后两句，正确，不选；B的heart rate和C的breaths做关键词定位至第五句，都正确，不选，所以D是答案。

Question 10 of 14

正确答案：A

解析：段落说到有两种研究infant perception的方法开始流行，第一种是habituation-dishabituation technique，第二种是evoked potentials；在说到dishabituation的时候，第四句说到，如果婴儿没有显出对新刺激的不适应而继续表现出适应性，就说明他们不能区分，所以答案是A。

Question 11 of 14

正确答案：C

解析：以brain做关键词定位至倒数第二句，说第二种是evoked potential指的是和特定刺激相关的脑电刺激反应，注意从句where they originate指的是大脑的反应产生的地方，所以答案是C，不同区域对不同刺激有反应。

Question 12 of 14

正确答案：D

解析：问题问得出什么结论，本段第二句提到，通过这些技术手段，我们发现仅仅出生几天的新生儿比我们以前认为的更有感知力，也就是能感受到更多东西，所以答案是D。

Question 13 of 14

正确答案：B

解析：注意插入句的主语 The repetition，而B处之前的over and over and in slow motion正好和repetition联系紧密。

Question 14 of 14

正确答案：ABF

解析：data选项对应原文第二段内容，正确；new选项对应原文第三段内容，正确；sophisticated选项对应原文最后一段内容，正确。

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