Magy's English Edu. Club
Cambridge 12 Academic Reading Test Three Passage Three
music and the emotions
Complete the summary.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
27 and 28. It was noted that the music stimulated the brain’s neurons to release a substance called ….. in two of the parts of the brain which are associated with feeling …….
The answer is DOPAMINE.
The answer is PLEASURE.
In paragraph two, the first thing they discovered is that music triggers the production of dopamine – a chemical with a key role in setting people’s moods – by the neurons (nerve cells) in both the dorsal and ventral regions of the brain. As these two regions have been linked with the experience of pleasure, this finding isn’t particularly surprising.
29 and 30. Researchers also observed that the neurons in the area of the brain called the …… were particularly active just before the participants’ favorite moments in the music – the period known as the …….
The answer is CAUDATE.
The answer is ANTICIPATORY PHASE.
In paragraph three, what is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate – a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations, and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli – were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favorite moments in the music. The researchers call this the ‘anticipatory phase‘ and argue that the purpose of this activity is to help us predict the arrival of our favorite part.
31. Activity in this part of the brain is associated with the expectation of ‘reward’ stimuli such as …….
The answer is FOOD.
In paragraph three, what is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate – a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations, and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli – were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favorite moments in the music.
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
32. What point does the writer emphasize in the first paragraph?
The answer is B. > how intense our physical responses to music can be
In paragraph one, in other words, sound stirs us at our biological roots.
33. What view of the Montreal study does the writer express in the second paragraph?
The answer is C. > It produced some remarkably precise data.
In paragraph two, because the scientists were combining methodologies (PET and fMRI), they were able to obtain an impressively exact and detailed portrait of music in the brain.
34. What does the writer find interesting about the results of the Montreal study?
The answer is A. > the timing of participants’ neural responses to music.
In paragraph three, what is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate – a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations, and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli – were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favorite moments in the music.
35. Why does the writer refer to Meyer’s work on music and emotion?
The answer is B. > to offer support for the findings of the Montreal study
In paragraph five, to demonstrate this psychological principle, the musicologist Leonard Meyer, in his classic book Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956), analyzed the 5th movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131.
36. According to Leonard Meyer, what causes the listener’s emotional response to music?
The answer is D. > the internal structure of the musical composition
In paragraph six, while earlier theories of music focused on the way a sound can refer to the real world of images and experiences – its ‘connotative’ meaning – Meyer argued that the emotions we find in music come from the unfolding events of the music itself.
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–F.
37. The Montreal researchers discovered that
The answer is F. > neuron activity increases prior to key points in a musical piece.
In paragraph three, what is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate – a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations, and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli – were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favorite moments in the music.
38. Many studies have demonstrated that
The answer is B. > neuron activity decreases if outcomes become predictable.
In paragraph three, and yet, this cluster of cells is most active when the ‘chills’ have yet to arrive, when the melodic pattern is still unresolved.
39. Meyer’s analysis of Beethoven’s music shows that
The answer is E. > emotive music delays giving listeners what they expect to hear.
In paragraph five, he wants to preserve an element of uncertainty in his music, making our brains beg for the one chord he refuses to give us.
40. Earlier theories of music suggested that
The answer is C. > emotive music can bring to mind actual pictures and events.
In paragraph six, while earlier theories of music focused on the way a sound can refer to the real world of images and experiences – its ‘connotative’ meaning – Meyer argued that the emotions we find in music come from the unfolding events of the music itself.