Reading Comprehension for IBPS PO 2017. Welcome to Online English Section in letsstudytogether.co . Here we are providing a set of English Quiz for Bank and Insurance exam 2017 on Reading Comprehension.
Reading Comprehension for IBPS PO 2017
Q.Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
The evolutionary emergence of the mammalian neocortex is generally accepted as the key neural innovation underlying advanced reason. Cortical evolution, if the neural constructivists are correct, is not simply a story about the addition of new, special purpose brain structures. Rather, it is a story about the addition of a plastic resource geared to allowing the encountered environment to build dedicated, delicately fitted neural substructures “on- the-hoof.” The human neocortex and prefrontal cortex, along with the extended developmental period of human childhood, allows the contemporary environment an opportunity an opportunity to partially redesign aspects of our basic neural hardware itself. The designer environments are thus matched, step-by-step, by dedicated designer brains, with each side of the co-adaptive equation growing, chaining, and evolving to better fit- and maximally exploit- the other. It is in this way that the human learner becomes “ dovetailed” to the set of reliable external problem solving resources that she encounters during early learning. The neural constructivist vision thus depicts neural and especially cortical growth as experience –dependent and involving the actual construction of new neural circuitry (synapses, axons , dendrites) rather than just the fine- tuning of circuitry whose basic shape and function is already determine. The learning device itself changes as a result of organism- environmental interactions; learning does not just alter the knowledge base for fixed computational engine, it alters the internal computational architecture itself.
As a concrete example, consider the development of hearing. Congenitally deaf children, whose brains are thus never exposed to the complex and distinctly structured inputs that the auditory world provides, fail to develop the complex web of inner connectivity that supports normal hearing. If such stimulation is artificially provided, using cochlear implant, recovery is rapid. The neural bases of this recovery are increasingly well understood and involve complex changes in the connectivity and response characteristics of auditory cortex. Vision cortex, likewise, requires extensive, experience- dependent rewriting to support seeing. New born human infants have very bad vision; it is highly restricted in scope and the resolution is forty times worse than adult vision. Depth appreciation is pretty well non-existent. It takes about a year of “cortical training” for the visual system to become normal, a process that can be blocked by cataracts or other impairments, which deprive the visual cortex of the experience it needs. Remove the cataracts and replace the affected lens with a clear artificial one, and improvement is again dramatically fast. According to one researcher, this kind of result “demonstrates the amazing plasticity of the young brain and underscores the importance of complex, balanced, early sensory input for guiding subsequent brain development.
So, great in fact, is the plasticity of immature cortex (and especially that of prefrontal cortex, according to Quartz and Sejnowski) that O’Leary dubs it “Protocortex”. The whole sensory, linguistic, and technological environment in which the human brain grows and develops is thus poised to function as one of the anchor points around which such flexible neural resources adapt and fit. Such neural plasticity is, of course, not restricted to the human species; in factor, some of the early work on cortical transplants was performed on rats. But our brains do appear to be far and away the most plastic of them all. Combined with this plasticity, however, we benefit from a unique kind of developmental space; the unusually protracted human childhood.
In a recent evolutionary account, Griffiths and stotz argue that the long human childhood provides a unique of opportunity in which “cultural scaffolding [can] change the dynamics of the cognitive system in a way that opens up new cognitive possibilities. “ These authors argue against what they describe as the “dualist account of human biology and human culture” according to which biological evolution must first create the “anatomically modern human” before being followed by the long and ongoing process of Cultural Revolution. Such a picture, they suggest, invites us to believe in something like a basic biological human nature, gradually co-opted and obscured by the trappings and effects of culture and society. This vision (which is perhaps not so far removed from that found in some of the more excessive versions of evolutionary psychology) is akin, they argue to looking for true nature of the ant by “removing the distorting influence of the nest”.
1.Which of the following is true of the neural constructivist model?
A. The environment encountered by the mammalian organism leads to the creation of new
neural circuitry involving changes in internal architecture.
B. It involves the addition of a plastic resource designed to build neural substructures.
C. It envisages the creation of designer environments geared to bringing about lasting changes
in neural circuitry design.
D. None of the above
E. All of the above
2. It can be genuinely inferred from this passage that development of visual and auditory abilities.
A. Require the development of suitable neural structures.
B. Is a function of appropriate environmental stimulation?
C. Both A and B
D. Is a function of time
E. None of the above
3. From the passage, what can be understood about the notion of plasticity?
A. The ability to mould as per circumstances.
B. The ability to regain lost faculties quickly in the presence of suitable conditions.
C. The training needed to re-enable a perceptual ability
D. The tendency of infant eyes to gain normal vision quickly
E. None of the above
4. The author has used the hearing and the seeing examples to prove the point-
A. That human sensory abilities are inborn
B. Those human sensory abilities need external inputs to develop properly.
C. That they are paramount to an infant’s development.
D. That though inbuilt into the neural system, they need external stimulation to develop fully.
E. None of the above
5. The last paragraph serves to-
A. Counter the cultural dominance viewpoint of human evolution.
B. Highlight the signicance of culture in shaping human evolution.
C. Drive home the importance of relative length of human childhood.
D. Strike a compromise between rival viewpoints.
E. None of the above
6. Choose the word/group of words which is MOST SIMILAR in meaning to the word/ group of words printed in bold color as used in the passage. Concrete
7.Choose the word which is MOST similar in meaning to the word printed in bold color as used in the passage. Cognitive
8.Choose the word which is MOST SIMILAR in meaning to the word printed in bold color as used in the passage. Dovetailed
9.Choose the word which is MOST opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage. Cataracts
10.Choose the word which is MOST opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage. Congenitally
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