Text c. Genes and intelligence

Exercise 11. What do you know about the neural bases of intelligence? Discuss the following questions:

1. What is a cognitive process from the biological point of view? What happens in the brain when people think?

2. Which brain structures are responsible for some of the cognitive abilities, such as decision-making, memory, perception, empathy, etc.?

3. How do genetic variations influence cognitive abilities and intelligence level?

to curb – ограничивать, сдерживать to halt – остановить, прекратить fluke – случайная удача, несостоятельность, обман to rest on one’s laurels – почивать на лаврах murine – мышиный maze – лабиринт

Exercise 12. Listen to the first part of the text (Script 14.1) which explores the possibility of enhancing cognitive faculties. How can the new discovery make it possible?

Exercise 13. Listen to the text again and explain what the following figures refer to in the text:

6 52-85 220 718

a fifth 3% 0.5%

Exercise 14. Answer the questions using information from the text:

1. What is the correlation between KL, klotho and KL-VS?

2. What is KL-VS responsible for in the human body?

3. What studies revealed the brain-boosting properties of KL-VS?

4. How was intelligence measured in the studies?

5. Are there any other genes that can produce the same effect?

Exercise 15. Listen to the second part of the text (Script 14.2) which details the mechanism behind the cognitive improvement and say if the following statements are true or false according to the text. Correct the false ones.

1. Although flukey correlations between a gene and a human trait are common this is not one of them.

2. Mice with murine equivalent of KL-VS to the genomes performed much better than regular mice at learning and memory tests.

3. Genetically engineered mice displayed differences from regular mice in the structure of their frontal lobes.

4. Glutamate stimulation of NMDA receptors is believed to be the basis of emotion processing.

5. The team genetically engineered mice to double the number of NMDA receptors in their hippocampuses and frontal cortices.

6. GluN2B levels affect cognitive performance and memory.

7. Ifenprodil blocks GluN2B thus eliminating the genetically engineered mice’s cognitive advantage.

8. The experiment demonstrated that klotho enhances intellectual performance by stimulating NMDA receptors of the brain’s memory and learning circuits.

9. A drug that elevates klotho levels thus facilitating cognition can be developed for the elderly people.

Unit 7. Sleep

Lexis: Neurobiology / Cognitive science / Somnology / Public health Listening. 3 texts

Text a. Children's intellectual development

Exercise 1. Before listening to the text discuss the following questions:

1. How does sleep schedule affect mental condition and academic performance?

2. What healthy sleep habits do you know?

Exercise 2. Listen to the text (Script 15) which describes a new research into sleep habits and say what correlation was established between sleep patterns and academic performance of children.

Exercise 3. Listen to the text again and say if the following statements are true or false according to the text, or information was not given. Correct the false ones:

1. Numerous studies provide reliable evidence to the connection between sleep habits and cognitive ability in adults and adolescents as well as in children.

2. Inconsistent sleeping schedules do not significantly impact academic performance.

3. The Millennium Cohort Study is a long-term research project aimed at revealing the nature of sleep.

4. The scientists collected information on bedtime habits of more than 11,000 children of various ages.

5. Some facts about families as well as cognitive test results of the children were also taken into account.

6. Being read to before sleep and having a television in the bedroom affected mental performance of the children.

7. The impact of regular bedtime turned out to be both age- and sex-dependent.