Which of the following best describes the function

Which of the following best describes the function of the sentence in lines 14–16 (“Certainly … sleep” )? Some researchers contend that sleep plays no role in the consolidation of declarative memory (i.e., memory involving factual information). These researchers note that people with impairments in rapid eye movement (REM) continue to lead normal lives, and they argue that if sleep were crucial to memory, then these individuals would have apparent memory deficits. Yet the same researchers acknowledge that the cognitive capacities of these individuals have never been systematically examined, nor have they been the subject of studies of tasks on which performance reportedly depends on sleep. Even if such studies were done, they could only clarify our understanding of the role of REM sleep, not sleep in general. The researchers also claim that improvements of memory overnight can be explained by the mere passage of time, rather than attributed to sleep. But recent studies of memory performance after sleep – including one demonstrating that sleep stabilizes declarative memories from future interference caused by mental activity during wakefulness – make this claim unsustainable. Certainly there are memory-consolidation processes that occur across periods of wakefulness, some of which neither depend on nor are enhanced by sleep. But when sleep is compared with wakefulness and performance is better after sleep, then some benefit of sleep for memory must be acknowledged. It provides the reasoning behind a claim about the role of sleep in memory consolidation., It explains why a previous claim about sleep and memory is unsustainable., It demonstrates why wakefulness is central to the process of declarative memory consolidation., It emphasizes the limited role sleep plays in the process of declarative memory consolidation., It concedes that the consolidation of declarative memory does not depend entirely on one factor.

3 Explanations

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ashutosh singh

WHy option B is incorrect the previous lines states that sleep somehow helps as compared to wakefulness then this preceding line is gainst that clm.

Aug 14, 2018 • Comment

Sam Kinsman

Hi Arun,

Happy to help!

The claim that sleep is more beneficial than wakefulness to memory is made in the very last sentence of the passage. That's why B is not really correct.

You may have been referring to this part of the third last sentence in the passage: "including one (study) demonstrating that sleep stabilizes declarative memories from future interference caused by mental activity during wakefulness." This is not really saying that sleep is more beneficial to memories than wakefulness is. Instead, it is saying that sleep makes memories more stable and protects them from interference caused by mental activity. And the sentence in lines 14–16 does not explain why that previous claim is unsustainable.

Aug 17, 2018 • Reply

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Uday Saha

Hi Chris,
I am confused between D and E.
I am convinced by D because "some of which neither depend on nor are enhanced by sleep" isn't it a limiting factor of sleep in memory consolidation process?

May 21, 2017 • Comment

Adam

Hi Uday,

Happy to help :)

The problem with (D) is that it says "It emphasizes the limited role sleep plays..." The function of this sentence is not to emphasize the limited role of sleep in memory consolidation. Rather, it acknowledges that sleep is not the ONLY factor in memory consolidation. (D) would only be correct if the sentence stated that sleep was a minimal factor compared to other factors. The text does not state this, so (E) is a much better choice.

May 24, 2017 • Reply

Adam

Hi Uday,

Happy to help :)

May 24, 2017 • Reply

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Chris Lele