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Brain Training Apps


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Published: 7.23.2017
Level 5   |   Time: 5:28
Accent: Canadian

TOEFL: A clip about how effective brain training apps are at making you smarter.

image        
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You can download the file [ HERE ].

    

triangle Directions 목표 Direcciones Instruções


  1. READ the VOCABULARY

    It is important to read the vocabulary before you watch the video. This will improve your ability to understand the video. It will also help you understand how the new vocabulary is used naturally.

  2. WATCH the VIDEO

    The first time you watch the video, just try to understand the overall situation.

  3. ANSWER the QUESTIONS

    First try to answer all the questions from memory. Then rewatch the video and try to answer the questions that you missed.

  4. WATCH and READ the SCRIPT

    Watch the video again while you read the script. Reading and listening at the same time will help you hear each individual word and improve your listening accuracy.

  5. DO the ACTIVITIES

    There are several different activities that focus on test preparation, vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.

  1. LEA el VOCABULARIO

    Es importante leer el vocabulario antes de ver el video. Esto mejorará su capacidad para comprender el video. También le ayudará a comprender cómo se usa el nuevo vocabulario de forma natural.

  2. VER el VIDEO

    La primera vez que vea el video, intente comprender la situación general.

  3. RESPONDE a las PREGUNTAS

    Primero intente responder todas las preguntas de memoria. Luego, vuelva a ver el video e intente responder las preguntas que se perdió.

  4. MIRAR Y LEER

    Mire el video nuevamente mientras lee el guión. Leer y escuchar al mismo tiempo lo ayudará a escuchar cada palabra individual y mejorará su precisión auditiva.

  5. HACER LAS ACTIVIDADES

    Hay una serie de actividades diferentes que se centran en la preparación de la examen, el vocabulario, la gramática y la estructura de las oraciones.

  1. 어휘 읽기

    비디오를 보기 전에 어휘와 배경을 읽는 것이 중요합니다. 이렇게 하면 비디오를 이해하는 능력이 향상됩니다. 또한 새로운 어휘가 어떻게 자연스럽게 사용되는지 이해하는데 도움이됩니다.

  2. 비디오 보기

    비디오를 처음 볼 때 전체 상황을 이해하려고 노력하세요.

  3. 문제에 답하기

    먼저 모든 질문에 답을 해보세요. 그런 다음 비디오를 다시보고 놓친 질문에 답해보세요.

  4. 비디오 보면서 대본 읽기

    대본을 읽는 동안 비디오를 다시 보세요. 읽기와 듣기를 동시에 하면 각각의 단어를 듣고, 듣기 정확도를 향상시킬 수 있습니다.

  5. 액티비티 하기

    듣기 정확도, 발음, 어휘, 문법 및 문장 구조에 초점을 맞춘 다양한 액티비티가 있습니다.

  1. LER o VOCABULÁRIO

    É importante ler o vocabulário antes de assistir ao vídeo. Isso melhorará sua capacidade de entender o vídeo. Também ajudará você a entender como o novo vocabulário é usado naturalmente.

  2. ASSISTA ao VÍDEO

    Na primeira vez que assistir ao vídeo, tente entender a situação geral.

  3. RESPONDA às PERGUNTAS

    Primeiro, tente responder a todas as perguntas de memória. Em seguida, assista novamente ao vídeo e tente responder às perguntas que você errou.

  4. ASSISTA e LEIA o SCRIPT

    Assista ao vídeo novamente enquanto lê o roteiro. Ler e ouvir ao mesmo tempo ajudará você a ouvir cada palavra individualmente e a melhorar sua precisão auditiva.

  5. FAÇA as ATIVIDADES

    Existem várias atividades diferentes que se concentram na preparação para o teste, vocabulário, gramática e estrutura de frases.

triangle Vocabulary 어휘 Vocabulário Vocabulario


  • ☐ ☐ ☐ the old refrain [exp] - the common expression
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ rot [v] - harm, make rotten
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ train [v] - practice
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ engaging [v] - using
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ 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



triangle Comprehension Questions 이해력 검사 문제 Perguntas de compreensão Preguntas de comprensión


  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 is Lumosity?
    An app that is supposed to make people smarter
    A company that measures brain activity
    A type of Pokemon

  3. 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

  4. 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.

  5. What types of activities do the brain training apps focus on?
    Remembering things while being distracted
    Reading many different things at the same time
    Being able to multi-task
    Improving hand-eye coordination
    Being able to focus in on specific information

  6. 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 10 different phone numbers at the same time
    Remembering a phone number while being talked to

  7. What is the Stroop Task?
    Remembering the color of words
    Saying the color a word is written in
    Writing words in numerous different colors

  8. How do designers want people to use these games?
    People use them instead of playing regular video games.
    People use them while they are studying or learning other things.
    People use them again and again until they improve.

  9. Who did they compare the brain training app users to?
    Regular video game users
    People who didn't play any video games
    People who read a lot

  10. 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.

  11. How did they measure brain activity?
    They asked the people many questions.
    They used an fMRI.
    They measured how long people slept.

  12. What effects did the brain training apps have?
    None
    The same as playing regular video games
    They improved people's memory marginally.



triangle TOEFL Questions TOEFL 문제 Perguntas do TOEFL Preguntas de TOEFL


  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) image
    (B) image
    (C) image
    (D) image

  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 games 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.



triangle Sentence Building (Summary) 문장 만들기 Construção de sentença Construcción de oraciones [ ? ]

Summary

This activity is designed to improve sentence accuracy and complexity. Most students can produce the key content words in a sentence. However, they have difficulty with accuracy because the functional words are difficult or can seem unimportant. This activity will help learners eliminate problems with these functional words by giving them immediate feedback on the mistakes they are making. It will also help students develop their use of more natural, varied and complex sentence structures.

TIP: Say the sentence out loud. Notice the types of mistake you make often. Focus on those types of errors. (singular/plural, subject-verb agreement, article use, prepositions, gerunds and infinitives, noun clauses, adjective clauses, word order, and word forms.)

Resumen

Esta actividad está diseñada para mejorar la precisión y complejidad de las oraciones. La mayoría de los estudiantes pueden producir las palabras clave del contenido en una oración. Sin embargo, tienen dificultades con la precisión porque las palabras funcionales son difíciles o pueden parecer poco importantes. Esta actividad ayudará a los alumnos a eliminar problemas con estas palabras funcionales al brindarles retroalimentación inmediata sobre los errores que están cometiendo. También ayudará a los estudiantes a desarrollar su uso de estructuras de oraciones más naturales, variadas y complejas.

CONSEJO: Diga la oración en voz alta. Observe los tipos de errores que comete con frecuencia. Concéntrese en ese tipo de errores. (singular / plural, concordancia entre sujeto y verbo, uso del artículo, preposiciones, gerundios e infinitivos, cláusulas sustantivas, cláusulas adjetivas, orden de las palabras y formas de las palabras).

요약

이 액티비티는 문장의 정확성과 복잡성을 개선하기 위해 고안되었습니다. 대부분의 학생들은 문장에서 핵심 내용 단어를 생성 할 수 있습니다. 그러나 기능적 단어가 어렵거나 중요하지 않은 것처럼 보일 수 있기 때문에 정확성에 어려움이 있습니다. 이 액티비티는 학습자가 실수에 대한 즉각적인 피드백을 제공함으로써 이러한 기능적 단어의 문제를 제거하는 데 도움이 됩니다. 또한 학생들이 보다 자연스럽고 다양하며 복잡한 문장 구조를 사용하는 데 도움이 됩니다.

팁 : 문장을 크게 말하세요. 자주 저지르는 실수 유형과, 이러한 유형의 오류에 집중하세요. (단수 / 복수, 주어-동사 일치, 관사 사용, 전치사, 동명사 및 부정사, 명사절, 형용사절, 어순 및 단어 형태)

Resumo

Esta atividade foi desenvolvida para melhorar a precisão e a complexidade das frases. A maioria dos alunos pode produzir as palavras-chave do conteúdo em uma frase. No entanto, eles têm dificuldade com precisão porque as palavras funcionais são difíceis ou podem parecer sem importância. Esta atividade ajudará os alunos a eliminar problemas com essas palavras funcionais, dando-lhes feedback imediato sobre os erros que estão cometendo. Também ajudará os alunos a desenvolver o uso de estruturas de sentenças mais naturais, variadas e complexas.

DICA: Diga a frase em voz alta. Observe os tipos de erro que você comete com frequência. Concentre-se nesses tipos de erros. (singular/plural, concordância sujeito-verbo, uso de artigos, preposições, gerúndios e infinitivos, cláusulas substantivas, cláusulas adjetivas, ordem das palavras e formas das palavras.)


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.

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.

Instrucciones: 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.


Sentence 1

podcast / begin / audio / clip / Pacman


The podcast begins with an audio clip from Pacman.



Sentence 2

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


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



Sentence 3

man / play / advertisement / Lumosity


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



Sentence 4

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.



Sentence 5

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


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



Sentence 6

most / app / target / people / executive / function


Most of the apps target people's executive functions.



Sentence 7

app / make / you / focus / some / information / while / screen / 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.



Sentence 8

Stroop Test / you / have / say / color / word / and / not / read / word


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



Sentence 9

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


Some apps have users practice multi-tasking.



Sentence 10

study / compare / people / use / app / people / play / regular / video / game / and / people / nothing / all


The study compared people who used the apps, people who played regular video games, and people who did nothing at all.



Sentence 11

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


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



Sentence 12

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


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



Sentence 13

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


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



triangle Discussion 논의 Questões de discussão Discusión


  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. What are some of the positive effects of playing a lot of video games?
  4. 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.
    image
  7. The podcast starts with an audio clip from Pacman. Do you know what games these sounds are from?
    1.   |   2.   |   3.   |   4.   |   5.   |   6.

triangle Script 대본 Roteiro Texto



Sound familiar. If so, you've probably spends an hour or two gaming. OK probably more hours than you care to admit gaming. But hey, your Pokémon we're just going to evolve themselves, right? And for people who don't understand gamers, there's the old refrain, “If you don't stop playing those video games, it's going to rot your brain.” But that's not supposed to be a problem if you're playing one of these games.

Take a 10 minute Lumosity FIT test to challenge memory, attention and more. You'll train with games that challenge key abilities like speed and problem solving. Train four times a week and enjoy your brain training journey. Start your fit test at Lumosity.com.

Lumosity is one of many apps that suggest that by playing their games they'll make you smarter than you were before. But I mean really, is that possible? That's what Dr. Joseph Cable wanted to find out. Dr. Cable, welcome to the program.

Thanks for having me.

So what kinds of effects do these brain-training apps promise? What is supposed to happen?

The promise is that by engaging with fun video games that you can play on your phone or play online that are specifically designed to tax your cognitive skills, that this will fundamentally change the way that your brain works and lead you to think better and to be smarter and to be more intelligent more generally.

What kinds of activities do these brain training apps have you do? How do they get you smarter?

Well most of them focus on a suite of things that psychologists will call executive function. These are the kinds of things that they focus in on our ability to hold something in mind in the face of interference. So to remember a 10-digit phone number while someone else is talking to you. Or to focus in on some information and screen out irrelevant information. The kind of classic example of this that a lot of people have heard of from Psych 101 is the Stroop task, where you have to say the color of the ink that the that the word is written in rather than read the word. Or to or to multitask – to be able to go back and forth between two tasks without slowing down or having a big cost as you go back and forth. And so the games are designed to zero in on these aspects of your thinking and have you practice them over and over again in an adaptive manner so that you get better and better on the game as you go through with the hope that that would generalize to your cognitive abilities more generally.

So you were kind of hoping to prove that Lumosity works, to prove my parents wrong, that video games could make you smarter.

That was that was the initial idea. And there was enough evidence out there and enough people who were sort of interested in this idea that we thought, you know, it's exciting enough and it's important enough that it really deserves to be rigorously tested. We really should know, you know, who's right - you or your parents.

Did you compare these brain training apps to anything else?

So in our study, we had two comparison groups. The first comparison group was people who just played regular old video games that weren't designed to do anything more than be a fun way to spend five minutes. And then the second comparison group was a group of people who did nothing at all. So they just did our initial assessments, and then we waited and then they came back and did our final assessments.

Now how would you know if those games were actually effective at increasing any of your abilities.

What we did to measure whether the brain training games and/or the video games were effective at improving your cognitive skills was to give people a suite of assessments. So we assessed people's working memory, which is their ability to hold information in mind in the face of interference. We assess their ability to focus their attention on one piece of information and screen out distractors. The other two things that we were looking at to look at their efficacy: one is brain activity, which we measured with a functional MRI, and then the other thing that we looked at was decision making.

And why include fMRI data in your study? Why look at people's brains?

Well you know, the provocative idea is that these games will change your brain, that that will make you smarter, and then that will have effects on how you weigh the future and how you weigh risks in your decision making. And so in the assessments, we really wanted to be able to measure each of those three steps of the idea. And the first step is that these games change your brain.

What was it you found ultimately?

Ultimately, we found that the brain games had no effects on any of those three measures over and above practice with everyday video games.

Which is a real bummer. I was really I was optimistic that I was going to be at like Hawking levels of brilliance by the end of using these games, but I guess it's not meant to be. At least this way.

Yeah.

Dr. Cable, thank you so much for spending the time to chat with me today. I really appreciate it.

Thanks for having me on.