Learn English with Quirks & Quarks

Check the words you already know. Marca las palabras que ya conoces. Marque as palavras que você já conhece. 이미 아는 단어에 체크하세요. Позначте слова, які ви вже знаєте.

• ☐ ☐ ☐ the old refrain exp. - the common expression
• ☐ ☐ ☐ rot v. - harm, make rotten
• ☐ ☐ ☐ train v. - practice
• ☐ ☐ ☐ engage v. - use
• ☐ ☐ ☐ tax v. - put pressure on
• ☐ ☐ ☐ cognitive skills n. - brain ability
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a suite n. - a set or group of things
• ☐ ☐ ☐ executive function n. - brain skills involving mental control and self-regulation
• ☐ ☐ ☐ in the face of exp. - during
• ☐ ☐ ☐ screen out phv. - remove unnecessary information
• ☐ ☐ ☐ irrelevant adj. - not important
• ☐ ☐ ☐ go back and forth exp. - alternate between two things
• ☐ ☐ ☐ zero in on phv. - focus on
• ☐ ☐ ☐ rigorously adv. - in an extremely careful way
• ☐ ☐ ☐ assessments n. - tests
• ☐ ☐ ☐ distractors n. - things that distract you
• ☐ ☐ ☐ efficacy n. - effectiveness
• ☐ ☐ ☐ fMRI n. - functional magnetic resonance imaging - brain scanning machine
• ☐ ☐ ☐ provocative adj. - interesting
• ☐ ☐ ☐ ultimately adv. - in the end
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a real bummer exp. - bad news

n. - noun,    v. - verb,    phv. - phrasal verb,    adj. - adjective,    exp. - expression

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1. What do parents often say about playing video games?
   They are a fun.
   They are expensive.
   They are bad for your brain.
   
   
2. What did Dr. Cable want to find out?
   Whether any video games made people smarter
   Whether brain training apps were effective
   Whether Lumosity was effective
   
   
3. What effects do the brain training apps promise?
   They will make people smarter.
   They will improve people's memory.
   They will make people better at playing video games.
   
   
4. What types of activities do the brain training apps focus on?
   Reading many different things at the same time
   Being able to focus in on specific information
   Remembering things while being distracted
   Improving hand-eye coordination
   Being able to multi-task
   
   
5. What is an example of one of these activities?
   Being able to make a phone call and play a game at the same time
   Remembering 3 different phone numbers at the same time
   Remembering a phone number while being talked to
   
   
6. What is the Stroop Task?
   Remembering the color of words
   Saying the color a word is written in
   Writing words in numerous different colors
   
   
7. How do designers want people to use these games?
   People should use them while they are studying or learning other things.
   People should use them instead of playing regular video games.
   People should use them again and again until they improve.
   
   
8. Who did they compare the brain training app users to?
   People who didn't play any video games
   People who speak many langauges
   Regular video game users
   People who read a lot
   
   
9. How did they assess people's cognitive ability and improvement?
   They tested their working memory.
   They measured their brain activity.
   They evaluated their decision making.
   
   
10. How did they measure brain activity?
    They asked the people many questions.
    They measured how long people slept.
    They used an fMRI.
    
    
11. What effects did the brain training apps have?
    None
    The same as playing regular video games
    They improved people's memory marginally.
    
    

Score:

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1. What is the discussion mainly about?
   (A) The effectiveness of brain training apps
   (B) How brain training apps work
   (C) The most recent brain training apps
   (D) The best way to improve intelligence
   
   
2. Lumosity is an example of ____.
   (A) a popular brain training app
   (B) the most effective brain training app
   (C) a brain training app that is also fun
   (D) a company that tests brain training apps
   
   
3. The purpose/promise of apps like Lumosity is ____.
   (A) to entertain people
   (B) to improve people's memory
   (C) to make people smarter
   (D) to save time
   
   
4. Which type of brain training activity does the professor NOT mention?
   (A) Memory activities
   (B) Focusing activities
   (C) Multi-tasking activities
   (D) Speed reading activities
   
   
5. Which image is an example of a Stroop Task?
   (A)
   (B)
   (C)
   (D)
   
   
6. The professor states the games are designed ____.
   (A) to get harder and harder as you use them
   (B) to help people who experience memory loss
   (C) to be more fun than regular video games
   (D) to improve people's intelligence through repeatedly playing the games
   
   
7. What does the host mean when he says this?
   
   (A) His parents thought video games were a waste of time.
   (B) His parents thought video games made people smarter.
   (C) His parents often encouraged him to play video games.
   (D) His parents thought he used brain training apps too much.
   
   
8. What did the professor expect to find out before he started his experiment?
   (A) He expected the brain training apps to be effective.
   (B) He expected video games to more effective than brain training apps.
   (C) He expected brain training apps to be ineffective.
   (D) He expected people to enjoy the brain training apps a lot.
   
   
9. Why did the professor test people playing regular video games?
   (A) To show that video games were also effective
   (B) To compare brain training apps to regular video games
   (C) To measure memory loss caused by playing video games
   (D) To keep people interested in the study
   
   
10. According to the professor, what is working memory?
    (A) Being able to remember things while awake
    (B) Being able to remember information while working
    (C) Being able to remember things while being distracted
    (D) Being able to remember things while under the influence of alcohol
    
    
11. According to the professor, why did they measure brain activity with fMRI scans?
    (A) To see if the brain training apps actually changed people's brain
    (B) To maintain the safety of the people being tested
    (C) To compare to brain scans of normal people
    (D) To measure memory loss
    
    
12. What were the three things that they evaluated and measured in the study?
    (A) Brain activity
    (B) Decision making
    (C) Game scores
    (D) Focusing ability
    (E) Hours using the game
    (F) IQ
    
    
13. What was the conclusion of the study?
    (A) Brain training apps are improving.
    (B) Brain training apps are very effective.
    (C) Brain training apps are marginally effective.
    (D) Brain training apps are not effective.
    
    

Score:

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Directions: Write sentences about the video clip using the words given. You can change the word form or add words, but you cannot change the word order.
( ) = optional   [ ] = necessary

Instrucciones: Escriba oraciones sobre el videoclip usando las palabras dadas. Puede cambiar la forma de la palabra o agregar palabras, pero no puede cambiar el orden de las palabras.

Instruções:: Escreva orações sobre o videoclipe usando as palavras-chave. Você pode alterar a forma da palavra ou adicionar palavras, mas não pode alterar a ordem das palavras.

지시 : 주어진 단어를 사용하여 비디오 클립에 대한 문장을 씁니다. 어형을 변경하거나 단어를 추가할 수 있지만 어순은 변경할 수 없습니다.

Інструкції: Напишіть речення про відеокліп, використовуючи подані слова. Ви можете змінювати форму слова або додавати слова, але не можете змінювати порядок слів.

podcast / begin / audio / clip / Pacman

The podcast begins with an audio clip from Pacman.

many / people / think / play / video / game / rot / brain

Many people think (that) playing video games (can/might/could) rot(s) [your/one's] brain.

man / play / advertisement / Lumosity

The man plays an advertisement [from/by/for] Lumosity.

Lumosity / claim / can / improve / your / memory / attention / if / use / app / four / time / week

Lumosity claims it can improve your memory and attention if you use their app four times [a/per] week.

brain / train / app / claim / can / help / improve / people / intelligence

(The) Brain training apps claim (that) they can help improve people's intelligence.

most / app / target / people / executive / function

Most (of the) apps target people's executive functions.

app / make / you / focus / some / information / while / screen / out / unimportant / information

The apps make you focus on some information while you screen out unimportant information.

The apps make you focus on some information while screening out unimportant information.

Stroop / test / you / have / say / color / word / but / not / read / actual / word

In the Stroop Test, you have to say the color of a word but not read the actual word.

some / app / have / user / practice / multi-task

Some apps have users practice multi-tasking.

study / assess / people / work / memory / and / ability / screen / distractor

The study assessed people's working memory and their ability to screen out distractors.

study / also / examine / people / brain / activity / decision / make

The study also examined people's brain activity and decision making.

study / find / brain / train / app / no / effective / than / regular / video / game

The study found (that) (the) brain training apps were no more effective than regular video games.

1. Have you tried any brain training apps? Which ones? How long did/have you use(d) it?
2. Which of these skills are you best and worst at?
   1. Remembering things while being distracted
   2. Being able to multi-task
   3. Being able to focus on specific information
3. In your opinion, what are some of the positive effects of playing a lot of video games?
4. In your opinion, what are some of the negative effects of playing a lot of video games?
5. Are there any specific video games that you think help people develop skills or talents? Which games and which skills?
6. Can you pass the Stroop Test? Describe the color of each word in the picture below.
   
   
7. The podcast starts with an audio clip from Pacman. Do you know what games these sounds are from?
   Game 1.   |   Game 2.   |   Game 3.   |   Game 4.   |   Game 5.   |   Game 6.