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within the left hemisphere. ‘This corresponds to the specific difficulties in
the respective languages’, Anwander says.
Brain differences
Comparing MRI scans of nearly 100 people, scientists found that the brains
of German native speakers (left) had stronger white matter networks (red lines)
within the left hemisphere. The brains of Arabic native speakers (right) had
denser networks (cyan lines) bridging the two hemispheres. Each sphere
represents a different part of the language circuit, with its size showing how
central it is. Lines show connections between nodes in the language circuit that
were stronger in one group of native speakers than in the other.
Differences in language circuit connectivity in German and Arabic
speakers
For instance, the complexity of Arabic’s roots – trios of consonants that
buddy up with vowel patterns to produce words – might demand extra effort
from parts of the brain involved in parsing sounds and words. A common
example of this kind of root is k-t-b, which forms words related to writing
like kitaab (book), taktub (you or she writes) and maktab (office). Arabic
text is also written right to left, which the researchers speculate might
demand more communication between the hemispheres.
German, for its part, has a complex and flexible word order that allows
the language to create subtle shades of meaning just by shuffling around
words within a phrase. While an English speaker can’t rearrange the words
woman, ball and dog in the sentence ‘the woman gave the dog a ball’
141
without garbling the core meaning, it’s possible to do exactly that in
dense thin
complexity intricacy
enormous tiny
shuffle rearrange
robust strong
hint suggest
reveal conceal
speed up slow down
constellation
containing a lot of matter in a small piece
trick
a point in a network or diagram at which lines or pathlines
intersect or branch
circuit
a group of related ideas, things or people
dense
a characteristic and identifying feature
refugee
something shaped like a circle, esp. a route, path, or
sports track that starts and ends at the same place
node
resolve (a sentence) into its component parts
German. This could explain the German speakers’ denser white matter
networks within parts of the left hemisphere that parse word order.
Still, it’s possible that the Arabic speakers’ recent arrival in Germany
could have tweaked their white matter networks too, says Zhenghan Qi, a
cognitive neuroscientist at Northeastern University in Boston who was not
part of the study.
Just one month of learning a new language, she says, can lead to more
engagement of the brain’s right hemisphere and greater interaction between
the two hemispheres. Examining MRI scans of Arabic speakers living in
their home countries or tracking brain changes as people learn new
languages would help separate the effects of language learning from those of
native language, Qi says.
While the new study focused just on the language circuit, parts of that
circuit handle more than just language, Qi says. And language learning
“might also change nonlinguistic regions of the brain,” so it’s possible that
people with different language experiences might process nonlanguage
information differently too, she says.
It’s still controversial whether language-associated white matter rewiring
affects more than just language, Anwander says. But at least within the
language circuit, the new results hint that our mother tongues are far more
than just the words we happened to grow up with – they are quite literally a
part of us.
From: Cutts E. Your brain wires itself to match your native language
sciencenews.org
1. Write S if the words are similar and O if the words are opposite.
2. Match the words with their definitions.
142
tweak
someone who has forced to flee his or her own country
because of persecution, war or violence
parse
reproduce (a message, sound, or transmission_ in a
confused and distorted way
garble
improve (a mechanism or system) by making fine
adjustments to it
3. Complete the sentences using information from the text.
a) New research hints that our native languages shape the network of white
matter….
b) But while the large-scale structure of this circuit is universal, every
language has ‘its own difficulties’…
c) But while the large-scale structure of this circuit is universal, every
language has ‘its own difficulties’….
d) The complexity of Arabic’s roots – trios of consonants that buddy up
with vowel patterns to produce words….
e) Arabic text is also written right to left, which the researchers speculate….
f) German, for its part, has a complex and flexible word order that allows
the language to create subtle shades of meaning just by….
g) While an English speaker can’t rearrange the words woman, ball and dog
in the sentence ‘the woman gave the dog a ball’ without……
h) Just one month of learning a new language, she says, can lead to….
4. Answer the questions.
a) What is characteristic of the Arabic language as far as the language
circuit connectivity is concerned?
b) What is characteristic of the German language as far the language circuit
connectivity is concerned?
c) What happens in the brain when a person learns a foreign language?
d) Why do people with different language experiences might process
nonlanguage information differently?
5. Write the text's summary.
6. Translate the text into Russian.
What Lucid Dreamers Might Tell Us about Our Sleeping Minds
So far, tests in very small groups of lucid dreamers suggest that the
strange realities we visit in sleep may be experienced more like the real
world than imagined ones. With more emissaries enlisted, researchers hope
to probe how sleeping brains construct their elaborate, often bizarre plots
143
and set pieces. Besides satisfying age-old curiosity, this work may point to
new ways to treat nightmares. Lucid dream studies could also offer clues
about how dreams contribute to creativity, regulating emotions or other
cognitive jobs – helping solve the grand mystery of why we dream.
Eyes on eye movements.
A person’s eyes can smoothly track left and right movements when they
are awake or in a lucid dream. But when someone closes their eyes and tries
to imagine tracking that motion, their eyes pan in small jumps, suggesting
that lucid dreams are experienced more like waking perception.
Answering questions during a dream.
While dreaming, Christopher Mazurek signaled the outside world by
sweeping his eyes left and right. Electrodes on his face recorded those
motions. On the graph below, Mazurek’s eye motions that indicate he is
lucid appear as three big up-down sweeps. Eye signals answering “2” to
researchers’ simple math question appear as two big up-down sweeps.
“I was astonished,” says Robert Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist at
Harvard Medical School who studies dreams but not lucid ones. “I had no
question but that these people are in fact listening and are in fact having
lucid dreams at the time of the communication – and that opens up all sorts
of possibilities.”
Arnulf and others have since asked lucid dreamers to smile or frown as
their dreams became more or less pleasant with the goal of understanding
how dreamers experience emotion. Another study, not yet published, tracked
when lucid dreamers answered or ignored researchers’ questions to see how
people tuned in and out of the real world while dreaming. Knowing which
signals break the dream-reality barrier could help “uncover the mechanism
of the brain’s disconnection from the external world – which is huge,” Baird
says. It could even be relevant for other states of unconsciousness, he adds,
such as when someone is put under for surgery.
Limits of lucidity.
Even if researchers get all the expert lucid dreamers they need to run all
their desired experiments, there’s still one major sticking point to this whole
field of study. “The biggest issue is how far can you push these results to
dreaming in general,” Stickgold says. Imagine, for instance, that lucid
dreamers get better at a skill by practicing it in their dreams. It’s not clear
that people who just happen to have normal dreams about doing those
activities, without self-awareness, would reap the same rewards.
Existing data do suggest that lucid dreamers may have access to parts of
the brain that normal dreamers don’t. The lone case study comparing fMRIs
of someone’s lucid and nonlucid REM sleep hints that brain areas linked
with self-reflection and working memory are more active during lucidity.
144
But those data come from just one person, and it’s not yet clear how such
emissary, agent
tune in, tine out
ordinary, bizarre
awareness, unconsciousness
reap, receive
hint, suggest
outcomes, results
uncover, conceal
awake, asleep
appear, disappear
differences in brain activity would affect the outcomes of lucid dream
experiments.
Brain clues to lucid dreams
Functional MRI scans of one sleeper’s brain during lucid and nonlucid
sleep showed that some brain areas may be more active during lucid dreams
than during normal sleep.
1. The lateral parietal cortex is involved in working memory.
2. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and frontopolar cortex are involved in
working memory and introspection.
3. Activity near the temporal cortex may make lucid dreams brighter and
more detailed than normal dreams.
From: Temming M. Here’s what lucid dreamers might tell us about our sleeping
minds. Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lucid-dream-sleep-mind-neuroscience-brain
1. Translate the terms into Russian and describe the brain activity of
lucid dreamers.
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).
RIM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep) describes a period of sleep during
which you dream and your eyes make many small movements.
A lucid dream – occurs when a person is asleep but aware that they are
dreaming.
The lateral parietal cortex plays a role in multi-sensory integration,
planning of movements, spatial information and episodic memory.
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is a region of the frontal lobes that is most
typically associated with executive functions including working memory and
selective attention.
Frontopolar cortex – is a large region occupying the anterior portion of
the brain’s frontal lobe and has been suggested to play role in complex,
higher order behavior.
A lone case study – a written account that gives information about a
person, group or thing and their development over a period of time.
2. Write S if the words are similar and O if the words are opposite.
145
3. Match the words with their definitions.
emissary
a long, swift curving movement
elaborate
a representative sent by one government or leader to another
pan
containing a lot of detail or many detailed parts
sweep
to move slowly from one side to another or up and down
frown
Stop listening or paying attention to something
tune in
receive (something, especially something beneficial) as a
consequence of one’s own or another’s actions
tune out
a facial expression indicating disapproval, displeasure or
concentration, characterized by furrowing of one’s browns.
reap
to associate oneself with what is happening
lucidity
the quality of being able to think clearly, especially when this
is temporary
emissary, tune in, reap, frown, sweep, tune out, elaborate, lucidity
4. Fill in the missing words in the sentences from the table.
a) They created ever more _____ models to explain these bizarre movements.
b) He gave a ________of his hand.
c) It was his ________of disapproval.
d) If you’re in a boring lecture you can _________.
e) If you ________to something such as your own or other people’s
feelings, you become aware of them.
f) The company is poised to ________the benefits of this investment.
g) He has intervals of ________.
h) I’m an _________of the president.
5. Speak on the perspectives of studying lucid dreaming.
6. Write the text's summary.
Easy Paths to Self Improvement
The most successful people in the world are the ones who are in a
constant process of evolution. Not everyone makes the choice to grow, but
that's not always because they're comfortable standing still. Sometimes
people just don't know where to start their journey to the future. Here are
four simple ideas that anyone can use to begin figuring out their true calling
in life and start growing authentically.
1. Take a Gap Year. It used to be that graduating from high school led to
the immediate start of college, a career or a family for the graduate. That's no
longer true, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. According to research from
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Bestcolleges.com, students who take a gap year are more likely to graduate
in four years or less than those who don't. The reason for this is simple: selfreflection. Students who go straight from high school to college are more
likely to have set in their minds what they want to study, which results in
better focus when they do start their studies. The Gap Year Association
states that 93% of students stated that their gap year helped them to learn
«soft skills» like communication and group coordination. The gap year
phenomenon isn't limited to students either. If you're between jobs, now
might be a good time to branch out into exploring some side interests that
might turn out to be real passions. A quick Google search can turn up some
excellent gap year ideas, so get paper and a pencil and start brainstorming.
2. Feed Yourself Mindfully. It's often been said that we are what we eat,
but science can back up that old adage with statistics. Complex
carbohydrates are a healthy energy booster, especially in the morning in the
form of foods like oatmeal. In fact, skipping breakfast can disrupt the body's
rhythms of consumption and fasting, leading to cascade effects like lethargy.
Protein fuels cellular repair and has been shown to curb appetite. Being
conscious about eating can even help boost your work productivity.
Managers have their eyes on three nutrients in particular: magnesium,
phenylalanine and choline. All of them have a positive impact on brain
function, with magnesium (found in dark chocolate and leafy greens) being
shown by some studies to cut anxiety. If you want to change your life, start
with what you put in your body.
3. Learn Meditation. A few years ago, scientists at Harvard Medical
School discovered something amazing: after only eight weeks of
mindfulness meditation, the amygdala (the part of our brains that governs
fear response) became less active. In fact, as little as ten minutes of
meditation have been shown to quiet nerves and give added focus. The
benefits don't end there; people with physical conditions like multiple
sclerosis can see a reduction in pain after meditating. Read the official
research on meditation by the National Institute of Health to start making
your plan for growing in mindfulness.
4. Do Good for the World. Study after study has shown that giving back
to others is objectively good for the person who does the giving. One of the
greatest benefits is an increase in personal self-esteem. The reasons for this
go much deeper than good vibes. Helping others in a more active way than
simply giving from afar causes the same positive emotional reaction in
philanthropists, even more so when they know the effects of their good
deeds. That's right: The human mind is actually hardwired to reward
someone for the good they do. It's not hard to see why. Everybody is
147
connected to the rest of humanity in some measure, and when someone
addage
a strong urge towards a particular way of life or career, a
vocation
figure out
extend or expand one’s activities or interests in a new direction
submit
a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth
calling
to finally understand something or someone, or find a solution
to a problem after a lot of thought
branch out
a hidden or suspected danger or difficulty
back up
drastically alter or destroy the structure, interrupt by causing a
disturbance or problem
disrupt
provide support for someone or something
tangible
real and not imaginary, able to be shown, touched or
experienced
A
B
1) gap
a) addage
2) soft
b) year
3) back up
c) skills
4) energy
d) self-esteem
5) personal
e) booster
knows they're bettering that world in a tangible way, they realize that their
own life has a purpose.
In the end, self-improvement isn't something you get from a list or a
book. It's something you do for yourself, by taking a good look at what
drives you as a person and then setting out on the right path for you.
From: Hansen P. Easy paths to self improvement
https://psyarticles.com/development/self-improvement.htm
1. Match the words with their definitions
2. Match the words on the left in A to B on the right to make the
collocations. Reproduce them in the context.
3. Answer the questions.
a) What is a gap year and why is it important for self-improvement? b)
What are the soft skills? c) How can you boost your work productivity with
healthy food? d) Why is it important to do good for the world? e) What are
the benefits of meditation for self improvement? f) What is selfimprovement as a process?
4. Write the text's summary.
148
5. Translate the text into Russian.
Five Ways to Improve Your Self Esteem
The attitude you have toward yourself can have a huge impact on your
life. Having a low self esteem, which means having a negative outlook on
yourself and a general lack of confidence, can cause both your mental and
physical states to decline. The path to improving yourself mentally and
physically involves many steps, but it starts with your attitude. To improve
your self esteem is not always an easy fix, however, as it involves working
on many different aspects of your life.
1. Stay Positive. The first step to improving your attitude is to do your
best to push aside negative thoughts and to stay as positive about yourself as
you can. Keeping a positive attitude about yourself whenever you can will
help develop mental toughness and keep your outlook on life optimistic.
Making self-deprecating jokes or comments about how you are lesser than
others may seem harmless, but in reality, doing so can often have a negative
impact on the way you see yourself. The next time you want to say
something discouraging about yourself, push that thought aside and realize it
is not true and that you are a worthwhile individual. By rejecting a negative
outlook on yourself, you may find a more positive and optimistic worldview
taking root, which can set you on your way to a more fulfilling life.
2. Eat Well. Eating well not only is good for you physically, it also can
positively affect your emotional state as well. Make sure you eat at least
three meals a day to ensure you are getting enough food. Eating too little can
negatively affect your mood, as can eating too much. Ensure your diet is
balanced well with adequate nutrients. Avoid consuming too much sugary
and caffeinated food and drinks as well. Too much sugar and caffeine can
cause you to crash later in the day and cause your mood to decline. When
you are physically unhealthy, your mind also takes a hit, leading to negative
thoughts and lethargy.
3. Exercise. Staying physically active does more than just keep your
body in shape, as doing so also has a positive impact on your emotions.
Regular exercise may help cut down on depression and anxiety by releasing
endorphins, which causes your body and mind to feel good. The blood and
oxygen flow to your brain can keep you mentally active, which helps cut
down on negative moods. If you find yourself in a bad mood one day, try
going for a walk or a jog. Getting your heart pumping may just lift your
mood, plus, occupying your mind with physical activity can get you
focusing on things other than what might be upsetting you at the time.
4. Sleep Well. Getting good amounts of sleep every night is important for
your health. When you wake up refreshed and rested, you can approach your
149
day with a better attitude than you would on little sleep. Set a specific time
impact – influence
discourage – encourage
reject – approve
outlook – view
toughness – solidity
lethargy – vigour
you would like to go to sleep and try to stick to that schedule every night if
you can. Getting on a nightly sleep routine can align your circadian rhythm
and keep you refreshed and both physically and mentally active every day.
5. Stay Occupied. Boredom can lead to depressing thoughts and lethargy.
One way to keep your mind sharp and your self esteem lifted is to make sure
you are always occupying your free time with something you like to do.
Getting stuck in a rut with nothing to do is an easy trap to fall into, so occupy
this time with a book, drawing, writing or any other activity you enjoy.
Staying positive, healthy and active is the key to high self esteem. A high
self esteem can lead to a happier and more fulfilling life, so always be sure
to take care of yourself when you can.
From: Hansen P. 5 ways to improve your self esteem
https://www.psyarticles.com/emotion/self-esteem.htm
1. Write S if the words are synonyms and O if the words are opposite.
2. Fill in the prepositions. Find them in the text.
a) They expect the meeting to have a marked impact _____his future life.
b) He had a practical outlook ______life.
c) I was _______a rut and couldn’t get out of it.
d) He’s been working ______his thesis for 3 years.
e) Try to focus ______the most relevant aspects.
f) He cut down ________coffee and ate a balanced diet.
g) Would you stick________the point please?
h) I was _______a rut and couldn’t get out of it.
3. Complete the summary about the ways of improving your self-esteem.
Do you follow these rules?
Having a low self esteem, which means having a negative outlook on
yourself and a general lack of confidence, can cause ... . The path to
improving yourself mentally and physically involves many steps, but it starts
with ... . The first step to improving your attitude is to ... .The next time you
want to say something discouraging about yourself, push that thought aside
and realize ... . Eating well not only is good for you physically, it also can ...
Regular exercise may help ... . If you find yourself in a bad mood one day ...
Set a specific time you would like to go to sleep and ... . One way to keep
your mind sharp and your self esteem lifted is ... . A high self esteem can ... .
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