Teenagers who talk on the cellphone a lot, and hold their phones up to their right ears, score worse on one type of memory test. That’s the finding of a new study. That memory impairment might be one side effect of the radiation(放射线) that phones use to keep us connected while we’re on the go.
Nearly 700 Swiss teens took part in a test of figural memory. This type helps us remember abstract symbols and shapes, explains Milena Foerster. The teens took memory tests twice, one year apart. Each time, they had one minute to remember 13 pairs of abstract shapes. Then they were shown one item from each pair and asked to match it with one of the five choices. The study volunteers also took a test of verbal memory. That’s the ability to remember words. The two memory tests are part of an intelligence test. The researchers also surveyed the teens on how they use cellphones. And they got call records from phone companies. The researchers used those records to figure out how long the teens were using their phones. This allowed the researchers to work out how big radiation exposure(接触) each person could have got while talking.
A phone user’s exposure to the radiation can differ widely. Some teens talk on their phones more than others. People also hold their phones differently. If the phone is close to the ear, more radiation may enter the body, Foerster notes. Even the type of network signal that a phone uses can matter. Much of Switzerland was using an older “second-generation” type of cellphone networks, the study reports. Many phone carriers(通信公司) have moved away from such networks. And more companies plan to update their networks within the next few years.
The teens’ scores in the figural memory tests were roughly the same from one year to the next. But those who normally held their phones near the right ears, and who were also exposed to higher levels of radiation, scored a little bit worse after a year. No group of teens showed big changes on the verbal memory test. Why might one type of memory be linked to cellphone use, but not another? Foerster thinks it could have to do with where different memory centres sit in the brain. The site that deals with the ability to remember shapes is near the right ear.
【小题1】The underlined word “impairment” in Paragraph 1 most probably mean “ ”.| A．application | B．satisfaction |
| C．damage | D．improvement |
| A．Researchers paid little attention to the teens’ habits of using phones. |
| B．The teens needed to report the average time spent on their phones. |
| C．The teens took two types of memory tests four times in total. |
| D．The teens’ ability of remembering words is shown in the figural memory test. |
| A．How people hold their phones has no effect on their bodies. |
| B．Phone users can make more money with new networks. |
| C．The cellphone network type has little to do with the cellphone use. |
| D．Radiation levels are affected by the cellphone network types. |
| A．Cellphone use and safety warnings |
| B．Teens’ cellphone use linked to memory problems |
| C．Dangerous levels of cellphone use among teens |
| D．Facts about cellphone use at school |
