The brain in love – a lecture by Helen Fisher


You can learn a lot of new words/phrases essential to everyday situations through popular culture, for example, films, songs, etc. To make those words/phrases part of your vocabulary, you have to practice using them repeatedly. The following tasks are designed to help you understand, remember and use the target vocabulary.

About Helen Fisher: Anthropologist Helen Fisher studies gender differences and the evolution of human emotions. She's best known as an expert on romantic love, and her books – including Anatomy of Love and Why We Love – lay bare the mysteries of our most treasured emotion.

Reprinted with permission from the TED.com

 

Clip One

A. Pre-viewing:

  Before watching the video clip, go through the following notes on vocabulary found in the clip and familiarize yourself with their meanings.
      1. Maya civilization – the historical pre-Columbian Maya culture, history and archaeology
  2. inscription – a marking, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal
  3. equinox – either of the two times during a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the length of day and night are approximately equal
  4. anthropologist – a scientist who studies the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans
  5. elation –joyfulness or exaltation of spirit, as from success, pleasure, or relief; high spirits
  6. anonymous - having an unknown or unacknowledged name

B. Comprehension Questions:

  Watch clip 1 and answer the following questions.

Video ©TED.com


1. How many people did the scientists put through an MRI brain scanner?
   37 Correct
   17 Incorrect
   15 Incorrect
   10 Incorrect
  
2. “Mayan inscriptions proclaim that he (the King) was deeply in love with his wife.”
Proclaim =
   suggest Incorrect
   describe Incorrect
   announce Correct
   specify Incorrect
  
3. What did the Mayan king Jasaw Chan K’awiil do for his wife?
   built a temple for her Correct
   bathed in her temple Incorrect
   visited her temple every spring and autumn Incorrect
  
4. “the sun rises behind his temple, and perfectly _________ her temple with his shadow.”
Complete the sentence with a word below.
   baths Incorrect
   bathed Incorrect
   bathe Incorrect
   bathes Correct
  
5. “Around the world people love. They sing for love, they dance for love, they compose poems and stories about love. They tell myths and legends about love. They pine for love, they live for love, they kill for love, and they die for love.”
Pine for =
   look for Incorrect
   long for Correct
   find Incorrect
   stand for Incorrect
  
6. Anthropologists have found a society that did not have evidence of romantic love.
   True Incorrect
  False Correct
  
7. In one study of college students, almost 95 percent of them were rejected by people they really loved and dumped people who really loved them.
   True Correct
  False Incorrect
  
8. The poem Fisher read during the lecture was written by herself.
   True Incorrect
  False Correct
Clip Two

A. Pre-viewing:

  Match the following entries with their definitions.

B. Comprehension:

  Watch clip 2 and answer the following questions.

Video ©TED.com


1.ApEn cells make dopamine and spray it to many brain regions.
   True Correct
   False Incorrect
  
2. Dopamine is a natural stimulant.
   True Correct
   False Incorrect
  
3. Which of the followings is a part of the brain’s award system?
  the ventral tegmental area Correct
  ApEn Cells Incorrect
  
4. What is VTA associated with? ( you may select more than 1 item)
   wanting Correct
   hunger Incorrect
  focus Correct
  craving Correct
  motivation Correct
  feeling Incorrect
  
5. Fisher describes romantic love as ….
  a possession Incorrect
  a cocaine high Incorrect
  an obsession Correct
  an insanity
Incorrect
  
6. Activity can be detected in the VTA only when we fall in love, not when we fall out of love.  
   True Incorrect
  False Correct
  
7. The core of the nucleus accumbens in our brain becomes active when we are measuring our gains and losses.
   True Correct
  False Incorrect
  
8. How does the brain circuit for reward help us in life?
   It helps us win the life’s greatest prize Incorrect
  It helps us find our mating partner Correct
  It gives us the courage to fall in love Incorrect
  It gives us the courage to take risks Incorrect
  
9. “When you've been rejected in love, not only are you engulfed with feelings of romantic love, but you're feeling deep attachment to this individual.”

Engulfed with=
   defeated by Incorrect
  engaged in Incorrect
  overwhelmed by Correct
  attached to Incorrect
  
10. “Last but not least, we found activity in a brain region associated with deep attachment to another individual. No wonder people suffer around the world and we have so many crimes of passion.”

Last but not least =
   last in sequence, but most important  Incorrect
  last in sequence, but not less important than the previous ones Correct
  
Clip Three

A. Pre-viewing

  Familiarize yourself with the meaning of the following entries.
  Before watching the video clip, go through the following notes on vocabulary found in the clip and familiarize yourself with their meanings.
      1. homeostatic - the ability or tendency of an organism or cell to maintain internal equilibrium by adjusting its physiological processes
  2. copulate - engage in sexual intercourse
  3. scruffy - shabby; untidy
  4. ethnologist – a scientist who studies animal behavior, especially as it occurs in a natural environment

B. Comprehension

  Watch clip 3 and answer the following questions.

Video ©TED.com


1.“So, what have I learned from this experiment that I would like to tell the world? Foremost, I have come to think that romantic love is a drive, a basic mating drive.”

Foremost =

   before dealing with the most important one Incorrect
  first to be dealt with and most important Correct
  
2. Fisher thinks that romantic love is a sex drive.
   True Incorrect
   False Correct
  
3. Romantic love enables us to focus on our mating energy on just one individual at a time.
  True Correct
  False Incorrect
  
4. Plato said, "The god of love lives in a state of need. It is a need. It is an urge. It is a homeostatic imbalance. Like hunger and thirst, it's almost impossible to stamp out."

Stamp out =

  end or extinguish by forceful means Correct
   imprint or impress with a mark by forceful means Incorrect
  
5. In this clip, Fisher describes romantic love as … (select 2 answers)
  a stamp Incorrect
  a drive Correct
  an addiction Correct
  a risk Incorrect
  
6. According to Fisher, what are three main characteristics of addiction?
   distortion of reality Incorrect
  tolerance Correct
  willingness to take risks Incorrect
  withdrawal Correct
  relapse Correct
  understanding Incorrect
  
7. Fisher has once pulled her car aside to cry because a song on the car radio reminded her of her ex-boyfriend.
   True Incorrect
  False Correct
  
8. Fisher believes that only humans ‘love’.
   True Incorrect
  False Correct
  
9. Knowledge of love has not spoiled love for Fisher.
   True Correct
  False Incorrect
  
Clip Four

A. Pre-viewing:

  Match the following entries with their definitions.

B. Comprehension:

  Watch clip 2 and answer the following questions.

Video ©TED.com


1.Fisher started the dating website Match.com three years ago.
  True Incorrect
  False Correct
  
2. ( you may select more than 1 item) According to Fisher, we tend to fall in love with somebody who has the same
   socioeconomic background Correct
   personality Incorrect
  religious value Correct
  general level of good looks Correct
  general level of intelligence Correct
  number of siblings Incorrect
  cultural background Incorrect
  physical strength Incorrect
  
3. Fisher thinks that biology and brain mechanisms can explain why one person can fall in love with one particular person but not with another.
  True Correct
  False Incorrect
  
4. Fisher has already found the kind of brain mechanisms that pull us to one person rather than another.
  True Incorrect
  False Correct
  
5. Women get intimacy differently than men do.
   True Correct
  False Incorrect
  
6. Women get intimacy from face to face talking, which comes from taking care of children.
   True Correct
  False Incorrect
  
VocabularyRound- up
Complete the following sentences by selecting a word provided in the drop box.


Source:
Wikipedia.org
Thefreedictionary.com

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