月４ Unit 5 Lesson B Audio scripts

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Unit 5: Inside the Brain Lesson B Audio Script

Listening: A Discussion about Memory, Learning, and Emotions

Track 2.7 B.C. Page 96

Toshi: I’m glad we decided to form a study group. I always find it helpful to study with other
people.

Julia: I agree. Studying in a group definitely helps me. Thanks for suggesting it, Toshi.

Liz: Yes, thank you, Toshi. And Julia, your idea to divide the topics and summarize the
information in our notes was brilliant as well!

Julia: Well, I’m glad it was helpful. Maybe you could go first, Liz.

Liz: Absolutely. My topic was memory, or how do we remember things? According to my

notes, the memory process has three steps. OK, first, information enters the brain through
our senses— what we taste, smell, touch, see, and hear—and it is stored, kept there for a
very short time—less than a second. OK, so then, only some of this information moves to
our short-term memory.

Toshi: Sorry, Liz, can I interrupt for a second? Could you explain why we don’t remember
everything? I mean, I know from experience that we don’t, but why don’t we?

Liz: Hmmm. I’m actually not sure why, but Professor Wong said that only the information we
need to use immediately moves to our short-term memory.

Julia: Right. I remember that. Our short-term memory allows us to function normally in the
world. For example, if you ask me a question, I can remember the question long enough to
answer it.

Liz: Right, but you might not remember the question tomorrow. OK, the third and final part of
the memory process happens when information that we try to remember, or that our brain
decides is important, moves to our long-term memory. This information can last a lifetime.

Toshi: Right, and if you really want to remember something, you need to think about it, or say it,
 or do it many times. Memories become stronger when they are sent down the same
pathway in the brain many times, And yes, I remember that from the lecture!

Julia: Thanks, you two. That was helpful. Now, before I give you my summary, let’s go back to
what Toshi just said. If you want to remember something, and you concentrate on it and
think about it and repeat it again and again, that’s very similar to actually learning
something, right?
Liz: That’s right. Here’s what I wrote in my notes: “To remember is to recall the past.
To learn is to do something differently in the future.”

Julia: Huh. That’s a good way to look at it. To learn new information, you have to concentrate on
it and think about it. Or to learn how to do something, like ride a bicycle, you have to do it
again and again.

Toshi: It’s interesting to me that when you learn new things, your brain forms new connections—
new pathways of neurons. So learning actually changes the structure of the brain! That’s
pretty amazing.

Julia: Yeah, pretty interesting stuff!

Toshi: Alright, so I guess it’s my turn now. Ready? My topic was emotions and the brain,
especially the emotions of romantic love and feelings of attachment and security. This was
quite interesting to me because I think of emotions as being psychological. They’re the
result of our past experiences and our nature—probably even the way our parents raised
us. But in fact, emotions are also chemical, not just psychological. There’s a chemical in
our brains called dopamine, for example, and the level of dopamine increases when we fall
in love with someone.