-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Torture Interferes2 with Memory
In the journal Trends in Cognitive3 Sciences, psychologist Share O'Mara notes that torture can interfere1 with the brain's memory retrieval apparatus4, making it counterproductive to the aim of producing useful information. Karen Hopkin reports
You’ve heard of waterboarding used as a means to get suspected terrorists to talk. Some people object to such methods on the grounds that they amount to torture. But in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, psychologist Shane O’Mara of Trinity College in Dublin raises another objection: torture's not likely to work.
Proponents5 claim that waterboarding's effective because prisoners will tell the truth to make the interrogation stop. But O’Mara says that’s not supported by scientific evidence. Harsh interrogation doesn’t motivate prisoners to tell the truth. It motivates them to talk. Because while they’re talking they’re not being waterboarded. But that doesn’t mean that what they say is true.
What’s more, prolonged extreme stress impairs6 memory retrieval. American Special Ops soldiers have been shown to have trouble recalling things they’d learned before being subjected to food- or sleep-deprivation as part of their training. That’s because stress hormones7 can compromise brain activity, especially in regions involved in memory.
O’Mara notes that mildly stressful events actually facilitate recall. So simply capturing, moving and then questioning prisoners, he says, should be stressful enough to get the information flowing.
—Karen Hopkin
1 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 interferes | |
vi. 妨碍,冲突,干涉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 cognitive | |
adj.认知的,认识的,有感知的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 proponents | |
n.(某事业、理论等的)支持者,拥护者( proponent的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 impairs | |
v.损害,削弱( impair的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 hormones | |
n. 荷尔蒙,激素 名词hormone的复数形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|