Passage Thirty-four

(The Relationship between Brain Process with Mental Experience)

   By 1950, the results of attempts to relate brain processes to mental experience appeared rather discouraging. Such variations in size, shape, chemistry, conduction speed, excitation threshold, and the like as had been demonstrated in nerve cells remained negligible in significance for any possible correlation¹ with the manifold dimensions of mental experience.

   Near the turn of the century, it had been suggested by Hering that different modes of sensation, such as pain, taste and color, might be correlated with the discharge of specific kinds of nervous energy, However, subsequently developed methods of recording² and analyzing³ nerve potentials failed to reveal any such qualitative⁴ diversity. It was possible to demonstrate by other methods refined structural⁵ differences among neuron types; however, proof was lacking that the quality of the impulse or its conduction was influenced by these differences, which seemed instead to influence the developmental patterning of the neural⁶ circuits. Although qualitative variance⁷ among nerve rigidly⁸ disproved, the doctrine⁹ was generally abandoned in favor of the opposing view, namely, that nerve impulses are essentially¹⁰ homogeneous in quality and are transmitted as “common currency” throughout the nervous system. According to this theory, it is not the quality of the sensory¹¹ nerve impulses that determines the diverse conscious sensations they produce, but, rather, the different areas of the brain into which they discharge, and there is some evidence for this view. In one experiment, when an electric stimulus¹² was applied¹³ to a given sensory field of the cerebral¹⁴ cortex of a conscious human subject, it produced a sensation of the appropriate modality for that particular locus¹⁵, that is, a visual sensation from the visual cortex, an auditory sensation from the auditory cortex, and so on. Other experiments revealed slight variations in the size, number, arrangement, and interconnection of the nerve cells, but as for as psychoneural correlations¹⁶ were concerned, the obvious similarities of these sensory fields to each other seemed much more remarkable¹⁷ than any of the minute differences.

However, cortical as diverse as those of red, black, green and white, or touch, cold, warmth, movement, pain, posture¹⁸ and pressure apparently¹⁹ may arise through activation²⁰ of the same cortical areas. What seemed to remain was some kind of differential patterning effects in the brain excitation: it is the difference in the central distribution of impulses that counts. In short, Brain theory suggested a correlation between mental experience and the activity of relatively²¹ homogenous²² nerve-cell units conducting essentially homogeneous impulses through homogeneous cerebral tissue. To match the multiple dimensions of mental experience psychologists could only point to a limitless variation in the spatiotemporal patterning of nerve impulses.

 

Vocabulary

1.        Up until 1950, efforts to establish that brain processes and mental experience are related would most likely have been met with

[A]. vexation.        [B]. irritability²³.       [C]. discouragement        [D]. neutrality

2.        The author mentions “common currency” primarily in order to emphasize the

[A]. lack of differentiation²⁴ among nerve impulses in human beings.

[B]. similarities in the views of the scientists.

[C]. similarity of sensations of human beings.

[D]. continuous passage of nerve impulses through the nervous system.

3.        Which of the following theories is reinforced by the depiction²⁵ of the experiment in lines 16—19?

[A]. Cognitive²⁶ experience manifested by sensory nerve impulses are influenced by the area of the brain stimulated²⁷.

[B]. Qualitative diversity in nerve potentials can now be studied more accurately²⁸.

[C]. Sensory stimuli²⁹ are heterogeneous³⁰ and are greatly influenced by the nerve sensors³¹ they produce.

[D]. Differentiation in neural modalities influences the length of nerve transmissions.

4.        It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following exhibit the LEAST qualitative variation?

[A]. Nerve cells.                   [B]. Nerve impulses.

[C]. Cortical areas.                 [C]. Spatial³² patterns of nerve impulses.

 

Vocabulary

1.       mental experiences                    精神感受

2.       discharge                            释放

3.       negligible                            微小的，可以忽略不计的

4.       manifold                            多种多样的，多方面

5.       neuron                              神经元/细胞

6.       neural                              （中枢）神经的（系统）

7.       qualitative diversity                    质的多样性，量变的

8.       disprove                             反驳，反证

9.       homogeneous                         相似的

10.    sensory nerve                         感觉神经

11.    cortical                              外皮的，皮质的

12.    cerebral cortex                        大脑皮层

13.    locus                                地点，区域

14.    psychoneural                         精神神经

15.    heterogeneous                        异源的，异种的，异体的

16.    spatiotenporal                        时空的

 

难句译注

1.       Such variations in size, shape, chemistry, conduction speed, excitation threshold, and the like as had been demonstrated in nerve cells remained negligible in significance for any possible correlation with the manifold dimensions of mental experience.

[结构分析] 句型为such…as 可as 具有关系代词作用，此处作从句中had been demonstrated 的主语。

[参考译文] 神经细胞中所显示的诸如在尺寸，形状，化学，神经脉冲中传导速度，激发界限等方面的那种变化差异对多方面的精神感受可能有联系来说仍然意义不大。

2.       It was possible to demonstrate by other methods refined structural differences among neuron types; however, proof was lacking that the quality of the impulse or its conduction was influenced by these differences, which seemed instead to influence the developmental patterning of the neural circuits.

[参考译文] 有可能用其他办法来显示神经类型之间细微的结构差异。可是，缺乏证据证实脉冲的或者其脉冲传导的质量受这些差别的影响。相反，这种质量看起来它却影响了中枢神经循环的进展模式。

3.       In one experiment, when an electric stimulus was applied to a given sensory field of the cerebral cortex of a conscious human subject, it produced a sensation of the appropriate modality for that particular locus, that is, a visual sensation from the visual cortex, an auditory sensation from the auditory cortex, and so on.

[结构分析] 主从句。后面跟解释性同位语：that is ……。

[参考译文] 在一个实验中，当电刺激作用于有意识的人体大脑皮层的某个感觉部位，它对这个特定部位产生一种恰如其分的感觉道，也就是说，视觉来自视觉皮层，听觉来自听皮层，以此类推。

4.       Other experiments revealed slight variations in the size, number, arrangement, and interconnection of the nerve cells, but as for as psychoneural correlations were concerned, the obvious similarities of these sensory fields to each other seemed much more remarkable than any of the minute differences.

[参考译文] 其他实验揭示了神经细胞在尺寸，数目，排列和相互联结上的细微变化。可是，就精神神经相互关系而论，这些感觉部位相互之间明显的相似性似乎比任何细微差异更为明显多。

5.       In short, Brain theory suggested a correlation between mental experience and the activity of relatively homogenous nerve-cell units conducting essentially homogeneous impulses through homogeneous cerebral tissue.

[参考译文] 总之，大脑理论说明精神感觉和相对相似的神经细胞单位的活动有关系。这种活动通过相似的大脑皮层组织传导的基本相似的脉冲。

 

写作方法与文章大意

   文章是对“大脑神经活动和精神感受关系的探讨。”采用时空写法。先从1950年，探索两者关系的结果令人沮丧谈起。在临近本世纪转折时期，由赫林提出的不同的感觉态可能和某种神经能量有关。经过一系列理论和经验探索，最后得出大脑理论说明神经感受和相对相似的神经细胞单位活动有关的结论。这是一种通过相似的大脑结构引导相似脉冲的活动。

 

答案祥解

1.        C. 令人失望。答案见文章的第一句话“到了1950年，大脑活动过程和精神感受有关系的实验结果看起来令人沮丧。”

A. 令人恼火。     B. 激怒。        D. 中立。    均不对。

2.        A. 在人的神经脉冲中缺少变异（差别）。Common currency 本义是一般通用。这里的上下问决定了它的含义“无变异脉冲（普通脉冲）”。第二段“虽然神经能量中的质变理论从没有受到严厉的驳斥，但这一学说被普遍放弃，而赞成其对立的观点；那就是：神经脉冲在质量沙锅内基本相似，并作为无变异脉冲（普通脉冲）经神经系统传送。”所以普通脉冲就是指神经脉冲无变异，在质量上基本相似。

B. 科学家观点上的相似性。     C. 人类感觉相似性。        D.   神经脉冲连续不断通过神经系统。这三项和common currency 无关。

3.        A. 受刺激的大脑部位影响感觉神经脉冲所显示的认知感受。在第二道题译文下面“根据这一理论，不是感觉神经脉冲的质量决定它们所产生的各种有意识的感觉。而是由脉冲在大脑中释放的不同部位决定，并且有证据证明这一论点。”见难句译注3。

B. 现在对神经潜力的质量变化可以进行更精彩的研究。         C. 感官刺激是异源的，并深受它们所产生的神经感觉（感受器）的影响。        D. 神经形态上的差异影响神经传递长度。

4.        B.  神经脉冲。这在第2题答案A中译注（即第二段）已有明确的答复。“神经脉冲在质量上基本相似……。”

A. 神经细胞。见难句译注2，“有可能用其他办法来显示神经细胞类型之间细微的结构差异。”       C. 外皮区域（部位）。       D. 神经脉冲空间模式。见难句译注5和本文最后一句“为了和精神感受多样性吻合，心理学家只能指明神经脉冲时空模式上的无限差异。”这说明，它不是 “Least qualitative variation.”

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