READING PASSAGE 1
THE SECRET OF YAWN
How and why we yarn still presents problems for researchers in an area which has only recently
been opened up to study
When Robert R. Provine began studying yawning in the 1960s, it was difficult for him to convince
research students of the merits of ‘yawning science’. Although it may appear quirky to some,
Provine’s decision to study yawning was a logical extension of his research in developmental
neuroscience.
The verb ‘to yawn’ is derived from the Old English ganien or ginian, meaning to gape or open wide.
But in addition to gaping jaws, yawning has significant features that are easy to observe and
analyse. Provine ‘collected’ yawns to study by using a variation of the contagion response*. He
asked people to ‘think about yawning’ and, once they began to yawn to depress a button and that
would record from the start of the yawn to the exhalation at its end.
Provine’s early discoveries can be summarized as follows: the yawn is highly stereotyped but not
invariant in its duration and form. It is an excellent example of the instinctive ‘fixed action pattern’ of
classical animal-behavior study, or ethology. It is not a reflex (short-duration, rapid, proportional
response to a simple stimulus), but, once started, a yawn progresses with the inevitability of a
sneeze. The standard yawn runs its course over about six seconds on average, but its duration
can range from about three seconds to much longer than the average. There are no half-yawns:
this is an example of the typical intensity of fixed action patterns and a reason why you cannot
stifle yawns. Just like a cough, yawns can come in bouts with a highly variable inter-yawn interval,
which is generally about 68 seconds but rarely more than 70. There is no relation between yawn
frequency and duration: producers of short or long yawns do not compensate by yawning more or
less often. Furthermore, Provine’s hypotheses about the form and function of yawning can be
tested by three informative yawn variants which can be used to look at the roles of the nose, the
mouth and the jaws.
i) The closed nose yawn
Subjects are asked to pinch their nose closed when they feel themselves start to yawn. Most
subjects report being able to perform perfectly normal closed nose yawns. This indicates that the
inhalation at the onset of a yawn, and the exhalation at its end, need not involve the nostrils – the
mouth provides a sufficient airway.
ii) The clenched teeth yawn
Subjects are asked to clench their teeth when they feel themselves start to yawn but allow
themselves to inhale normally through their open lips and clenched teeth. This variant gives one
the sensation of being stuck mid-yawn. This shows that gaping of the jaws is an essential
component of the fixed action pattern of the yawn, and unless it is accomplished, the program (or
pattern) will not run to completion. The yawn is also shown to be more than a deep breath,
because, unlike normal breathing, inhalation and exhalation cannot be performed so well through
the clenched teeth as through the nose.
iii) The nose yawn
This variant tests the adequacy of the nasal airway to sustain a yawn. Unlike normal breathing,
which can be performed equally well through mouth or nose, yawning is impossible via nasal
inhalation alone. As with the clenched teeth yawn, the nose yawn provides the unfulfilling
sensation of being stuck in mid-yawn. Exhalation, on the other hand, can be accomplished equally
well through nose or mouth. Through thin methodology Provine demonstrated that inhalation
through the oral airway and the gaping of jaws are necessary for normal yawns. The motor
program for yawning will not run to completion without feedback that these parts of the program
have been accomplished.
But yawning is a powerful, generalized movement that involves much more than airway
manoeuvres and jaw-gaping. When yawning you also stretch your facial muscles, tilt your head
back, narrow or close your eyes, produce tears, salivate, open the Eustachian tubes of your middle
ear and perform many other, yet unspecified, cardiovascular and respiratory acts. Perhaps the
yawn shares components with other behaviour. For example, in the yawn a kind of ‘slow sneeze’ or
is the sneeze a ‘fast yawn’? Both share common respiratory and other features including jaw
gaping, eye closing and head tilting.
Yawning and stretching share properties and may be performed together as parts of a global motor
complex. Studies by J I p deVries et al. in the early 1980s, charting movement in the developing
foet US using ultrasound, observed a link between yawning and stretching. The most extraordinary
demonstration of the yawn-stretch linkage occurs in many people paralyzed on one side of their
body because of brain damage caused by a stroke, the prominent British neurologist Sir Francis
Walshe noted in 1923 that when these people yawn, they are startled and mystified to observe that
their otherwise paralyzed arm rises and flexes automatically in what neurologists term an
‘associated response’. Yawning apparently activates undamaged, unconsciously controlled
connections between the brain and the motor system, causing the paralyzed limb to move. It is not
known whether the associated response is a positive prognosis for recovery, nor whether yawning
is therapeutic for prevention of muscular deterioration.
Provine speculated that, in general, yawning may have many functions, and selecting a single
function from the available options may be an unrealistic goal. Yawning appears to be associated
with a change of behavioral state, switching from one activity to another. Yawning is also a
reminder that ancient and unconscious behavior linking US to the animal world lurks beneath the
veneer of culture, rationality and language.
Questions 1-6
Complete the summary below using the list of words, A-K, below
Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
Provine's early findings on yawns
half-yawns do not exist. Just
Through his observation of yawns, Provine was able to confirm that 1…………….
sneeze
like a 2 ……………., yawns cannot be interrupted after they have begun. This is because yawns
fixed action pattern
occur as a 3……………. rather than a stimulus response as was previously thought. In measuring
6 seconds He also found
the time taken to yawn, Provine found that a typical yawn lasts about 4 …………….
that it is common for people to yawn a number of times in quick succession with the yawns usually
68 secondsapart. When studying whether length and rate were connected, Provine
being around 5…………….
long yawns
concluded that people who yawn less do not necessarily produce 6……………. to make up for this.
A form and function B long yawns C 3 seconds
D fixed action pattern E 68 seconds F short yawns
G reflex H sneeze I short duration
J 6 seconds K half-yawns
Questions 7-11
Choose the correct letter in boxes 7-11 on your answer sheet
7 What did Provine conclude from his ‘closed nose yawn’ experiment?
A Ending a yawn requires use of the nostrils.
B You can yawn without breathing through your nose
C Breathing through the nose produces a silent yawn.
D The role of the nose in yawning needs further investigation.
8 Provine's ‘clenched teeth yawn' experiment shows that
A yawning is unconnected with fatigue.
B a yawn is the equivalent of a deep intake of breath.
C you have to be able to open your mouth wide to yawn.
D breathing with the teeth together is as efficient as through the nose.
9 The nose yawn experiment was used to test whether yawning
A can be stopped after it has stated
B is the result of motor programing
C involves both inhalation and exhalation.
D can be accomplished only through the nose.
10 In people paralyzed on one side because of brain damage
A yawning may involve only one side of the face.
B the yawning response indicates that recovery is likely.
C movement in the paralysed arm is stimulated by yawning.
D yawning can be used as an example to prevent muscle wasting.
11 In the last paragraph, the writer concludes that
A yawning is a sign of boredom.
B we yawn in spite of the development of our species.
C yawning is a more passive activity than we imagine.
D we are stimulated to yawn when our brain activity is low.
Questions 12-14
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 12-14 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer YES
NG
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
YES
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
12 Research students were initially reluctant to appreciate the value of Provine's studies.
13 When foetuses yawn and stretch they are learning how to control movement.
14 According to Provine, referring to only one function is probably inadequate to explain why
people yawn.
READING PASSAGE 2
Decisions, decisions!
Research explores when we can make a vital decision quickly and when we need to proceed more
deliberately
A widely recognised legend tells us that in Gordium (in what is now Turkey) in the fourth century
BC an oxcart was roped to a pole with a complex knot. It was said that the first person to untie it
would become the king of Asia. Unfortunately, the knot proved impossible to untie. The story
continues that when confronted with this problem, rather than deliberating on how to untie the
Gordian knot, Alexander, the famous ruler of the Greeks in the ancient world, simply took out his
sword and cut it in two - then went on to conquer Asia. Ever since, the notion of a 'Gordian solution'
has referred to the attractiveness of a simple answer to an otherwise intractable problem.
Among researchers in the psychology of decision making, however, such solutions have
traditionally held little appeal. In particular, the 'conflict model' of decision making proposed by
psychologists Irving Janis and Leon Mann in their 1977 book, Decision Making, argued that a
complex decision-making process is essential for guarding individuals and groups from the peril of
'group-think'. Decisions made without thoroughly canvassing, surveying, weighing, examining and
reexamining relevant information and options would be suboptimal and often disastrous. One
foreign affairs decision made by a well-known US political leader in the 1960s is typically held up
as an example of the perils of inadequate thought, whereas his successful handling of a later crisis
is cited as an example of the advantages of careful deliberation. However, examination of these
historical events by Peter Suedfield, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, and
Roderick Kramer, a psychologist at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, found little
difference in the two decision-making processes; both crises required and received complex
consideration by the political administration, but later only the second one was deemed to be
effective.
In general, however, organisational and political science offer little evidence that complex decisions
fare better than simpler ones. In fact, a growing body of work suggests that in many situations
simple 'snap' decisions will be routinely superior to more complex ones - an idea that gained
widespread public appeal with Malcolm Gladwell's best-selling book Blink (2005).
An article by Ap Dijksterhuis of the University of Amsterdam and his colleagues, 'On Making the
Right Choice: the Deliberation-without-attention Effect', runs very much in the spirit of Gladwell's
influential text. Its core argument is that to be effective, conscious (deliberative) decision making
requires cognitive resources. Because increasingly complex decisions place increasing strain on
those resources, the quality of our decisions declines as their complexity increases. In short,
complex decisions overrun our cognitive powers. On the other hand, unconscious decision making
(what the authors refer to as 'deliberation without attention') requires no cognitive resources, so
task complexity does not degrade effectiveness. The seemingly counterintuitive conclusion is that
although conscious thought enhances simple decisions, the opposite holds true for more complex
decisions.
Dijksterhuis reports four simple but elegant studies supporting this argument. In one, participants
assessed the quality of four hypothetical cars by considering either four SW attributes (a simple
task) or 12 attributes (a complex task). Among participants who considered four attributes, those
who were allowed to engage in undistracted deliberative thought did better at discriminating
between the best and worst cars. Those who were distracted and thus unable to deliberate had to
rely on their unconscious thinking and did less well. The opposite pattern emerged when people
considered 12 criteria. In this case, conscious deliberation led to inferior discrimination and poor
decisions.
In another study, Dijksterhuis surveyed people shopping for clothes ('simple' products) and
furniture ('complex' products). Compared with those who said they had deliberated long and hard,
shoppers who bought with little conscious deliberation felt less happy with their simple clothing
purchases but happier with the complex furniture purchases. Deliberation without attention actually
produced better results as the decisions became more complex.
From there, however, the researchers take a big leap. They write:
There is no reason to assume that the deliberation-without-attention effect does not
generalise to other types of choices - political, managerial or otherwise. In such cases, it
should benefit the individual to think consciously about simple matters and to delegate
thinking about more complicated matters to the unconscious.
This radical inference contradicts standard political and managerial theory but doubtless comforts
those in politics and management who always find the simple solution to the complex problem an
attractive proposition. Indeed, one suspects many of our political leaders already embrace this
wisdom.
Still it is here, in the realms of society and its governance, that the more problematic implications of
deliberation without attention begin to surface. Variables that can be neatly circumscribed in
decisions about shopping lose clarity in a world of group dynamics, social interaction, history and
politics. Two pertinent questions arise. First, what counts as a complex decision? And second,
what counts as a good outcome?
As social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) noted, a 'good' decision that nobody respects is
actually bad. His classic studies of decision making showed that participating in deliberative
processes makes people more likely to abide by the results. The issue here is that when political
decision makers make mistakes, it is their politics, or the relation between their politics and our
own, rather than psychology which is at fault.
Gladwell's book and Dijksterhuis's paper are invaluable in pointing out the limitations. of the
conventional wisdom that decision quality rises with decision-making complexity. But this work still
tempts us to believe that decision making is simply a matter of psychology, rather than also a
question of politics, ideology and group membership. Avoiding social considerations in a search for
general appeal can take us away from enlightenment rather than toward it.
Questions 15-19
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
15 The legend of the Gordian knot is used to illustrate the idea that
A anyone can solve a difficult problem.
B difficult problems can have easy solutions.
C the solution to any problem requires a lot of thought.
D people who can solve complex problems make good leaders.
16 The 'conflict model' of decision making proposed by Janis and Mann requires that
A opposing political parties be involved.
B all important facts be considered.
C people be encouraged to have different ideas.
D previous similar situations be thoroughly examined.
17 According to recent thinking reinforced by Malcolm Gladwell, the best decisions
A involve consultation.
B involve complex thought.
C are made very quickly.
D are the most attractive option.
18 Dijksterhuis and his colleagues claim in their article that
A our cognitive resources improve as tasks become more complex.
B conscious decision making is negatively affected by task complexity.
C unconscious decision making is a popular approach.
D deliberation without attention defines the way we make decisions.
19 Dijksterhuis's car study found that, in simple tasks, participants
A were involved in lengthy discussions.
B found it impossible to make decisions quickly.
C were unable to differentiate between the options.
D could make a better choice when allowed to concentrate.
Questions 20-23
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-l, in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet.
Dijksterhuis's shopping study and its conclusions
Using clothing and furniture as examples of different types of purchases, Dijksterhuis questioned
more time buying
shoppers on their satisfaction with what they had bought. People who spent 20............
simple clothing items were more satisfied than those who had not. However, when buying furniture,
better
shoppers made 21............ purchasing decisions if they didn't think too hard. From this, the
complex
researchers concluded that in other choices, perhaps more important than shopping, 22............
decisions are best made by the unconscious. The writer comments that Dijksterhuis's finding is
counterintuitive
apparently 23............ but nonetheless true.
A more B counterintuitive C simple
D better E conscious F obvious
G complex H less I worse
Questions 24-28
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
NO
In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write
NG
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NG
YES
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer NG
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
24 Dijksterhuis's findings agree with existing political and management theories.
25 Some political leaders seem to use deliberation without attention when making complex
decisions.
26 All political decisions are complex ones.
27 We judge political errors according to our own political beliefs.
28 Social considerations must be taken into account for any examination of decision making to
prove useful.
