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Senses That Work Together

When we think about how our senses work, we usually imagine them operating separately: you sniff a flower, and the smell is delivered uninterrupted from nose to brain. However, it’ s more complex than that. Most evidence for cross-modal perception (知觉) comes from studies into sound and vision (视觉).

But research that shows other senses crossing over is coming out all the time, and it seems that even sound and smell sometimes form an unlikely pairing.

When New York researchers, Daniel Wesson and Donald Wilson, tried to find out the truth about a “ mysterious” area of the brain called the olfactory tubercle, they had to deal with this fact. Originally,they only intended to measure how olfactory tubercle cells in mice responded to smell. But during testing,

Wesson noticed that every time he put his coffee cup down, the mouse cells jumped in activity. In fact,the olfactory tubercle is well-placed to receive both smell and sound information from the outside world.

Later they found that among separate cells, most responded to a smell but a significant number were also active when a sound was made. Some cells even behaved differently when smell and sound were presented together, by increasing or decreasing their activity.

Of course, mice aren’ t people, so research team has been carrying out further experiments. They pulled together a group of people and gave them various drinks to smell. Participants were asked to sniff the drinks, and then match them to appropriate musical instruments and produce the notes at different levels. The results were interesting: piano was regularly paired with fruity fragrances; strong smells sounded like the instruments that are made of metal.

Further research found that listening to different sounds can change your perceptions. Studying taste this time, the team ordered some special toffee (太妃糖) and put together “ soundscapes” corresponding to bitterness and sweetness. Participants tasted similar pieces of toffee while listening to each soundscape, and found the toffee more bitter or sweeter, depending on which soundtrack they were listening to.

Studies like this are helping scientists correctly describe our understanding of the senses, and how the brain combines them with its advantage. The consequences are worth considering. Could we see musicians work together with chefs to produce sound-improved food and drink? Will you be ordering a coffee with a soundtrack to bring out your favorite smell? Come to think of it, that could be one thing you hope coffee shop chains don’ t get round to.

1.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. A lot of research focuses on the senses.

B. Sound and vision are relatively easy to study.

C. There can be a link between sound and smell.

D. Evidence about the way senses work is hard to obtain.

2.In Wesson and Wilson’ s research, ______.

A. the mice were affected more significantly by sound

B. the result confirmed what the researchers had suspected

C. the mice seemed to be afraid of certain sounds or smells

D. the connection between sound and smell was found by chance

3.What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?

A. Participants took an active part in the experiments.

B. The purpose of the further experiments was totally different.

C. The result failed to support what was found in previous experiments.

D. Experiments showed that links between sound and smell were consistent.

4.How does the author feel about the effect of the research?

A. She is excited about the creative chances.

B. She is surprised at the recent developments.

C. She is convinced that the findings will be used soon.

D. She is worried about how the knowledge can be applied.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题

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