Inside the mind of a fan: How watching sport affects the brain – IELTS Reading Answers

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Updated On Jun 26, 2023

Inside the mind of a fan How watching sport affects the brain

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The Reading Module of the IELTS can be the top-scoring category, with diligent practice. To achieve the best results in this section, you must understand how to approach and answer the different Question types in the Reading Module. By solving and reviewing Sample Reading Questions from past IELTS papers, you can ensure that your Reading skills are up to the mark.

Inside the mind of a fan
How watching sport affects the brain

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Question Number	Answers	Explanation
27	F	In paragraph F, the writer mentions that we watch sport for the feeling, ‘the human drama’. This feeling also derives from ‘mirror neurons’. By letting spectators share in the motions of victory, they also ‘allow us to share in its feelings’ (emotionally satisfying). This is because they are directly connected to the amygdale, one of the main brain regions involved in emotion (why watching sport may be emotionally satisfying). During the Olympics, the mirror neurons of whole nations will be electrically identical, their athletes causing spectators to feel, just for a second or two, the same thing. Watching sports brings people together. Hence the answer is F.
28	B	In paragraph B, the writer states that to a ‘novice’ (beginners), the ‘skill of casting a smooth arc with a lop-side metal stick’ (sporting task) is virtually ‘impossible’ (difficult). This is because most novices ‘swing with their consciousness, using an area of the brain next to the premotor cortex’ (the reason why beginners find sporting tasks difficult). Hence, the answer is B.
29	E	In paragraph E, it is given that Rizzolatti, Fogassi and Gallese believed that one can understand the movement of sports stars only when they ‘map the visual representation of the observed action onto our motor representation of the same action’. According to this theory, ‘watching an Olympic athlete ’causes the motor system of the observer to resonate’ (mirroring). The “motor knowledge” of the observer is used to understand the observed action.‘Mirror neurons’ are more than just the neural basis for our attitude to sport. It turns out that ‘watching a great golfer makes us better golfers’, and watching ‘a great sprinter actually makes us run faster’. This ability to learn by watching (a factor needed to combine with mirroring to attain sporting excellence) is a crucial skill. From the acquisition of language as infants to learning facial expressions, mimesis (copying) is an essential part of being conscious. The ‘best athletes’ (sporting excellence) are those with a premotor cortex capable of imagining the movements of victory, together with the physical properties to make those movements real. Hence, the answer is E.

30	C	In paragraph C, it is said that the main functional characteristic of ‘mirror neurons’ is that they ‘become active’ both when the ‘monkey’ (animal) performs a particular action (for example, grasping an object or holding it) and, astonishingly, when it sees another individual performing a similar action.’ ‘Humans’ have an ‘even more elaborate mirror neuron system’ (comparison between animal and human). Hence, the answer is C.
31	D	The beginning of paragraph D brings out the fact that the ‘electrophysiological studies’ indicate that when we watch a golfer or a runner in action, the ‘mirror neurons’ in our ‘own premotor cortex light up’ (brain activity) as if we were the ones competing. This ‘phenomenon of neural mirror’ was ‘first discovered in 1954’, when two French physiologists, Gastaut and Berf, found that the ‘brains of humans vibrate with two distinct wavelengths, alpha and mu’. Hence, the answer is D.
32	E	Paragraph E states that Rizzolatti, Fogassi and Gallese call the idea of mirror neurons the ‘direct matching hypothesis’. They ‘believe’ (claim) that the movement of sports stars is understood when ‘the visual representation of the observed action’ (observation) is mapped onto our ‘motor representation of the same action’ (performance). According to this theory, watching an Olympic athlete ’causes the motor system of the observer to resonate. It turns out that ‘watching a great golfer makes us better golfers’ (improvement), and watching ‘a great sprinter actually makes us run faster’ (improvement). Hence, the answer is E.
33	C	In paragraph B, it is mentioned that in 1996, three Italian neuroscientists, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese discovered that inside the primate brains there were ‘groups of cells’ that ‘store vocabularies of motor actions’ similar to ‘grammars of movement’. ‘These networks of cells’ are the bodily ‘sentences’ we use every day, the ones our brain has chosen to retain and refine. Hence, the answer is C (a pattern of connected cells).
34	A	In the last three sentences of paragraph B, it is stated that to an ‘expert player’, a perfectly balanced stroke is second nature. For him, the ‘motor action has become memorized’, and the ‘movements are embedded in the neurons of his premotor cortex’ (unconscious). He hits the ball with the tranquility of his ‘perfected autopilot’ (habituated or mechanical behaviour). Hence, the answer is A (without conscious thought.).
35	C	In paragraph F, the writer mentions that we ‘watch sport’ (watching sport) for the ‘feeling of the human drama’ (most common motive). This feeling also derives from mirror neurons. By letting spectators share in the ‘motions of victory’ (strong positive emotion), they also allow us to share in its feelings. This is because they are directly connected to the amygdale, one of the main brain regions involved in emotion. Hence, the answer is C (experience strong positive emotions).
36	YES	In paragraph B, the writer states that to a ‘novice’ (inexpert sports players), the ‘skill of casting a smooth arc with a lop-side metal stick’ is virtually ‘impossible’. This is because most novices ‘swing with their consciousness’ (they are aware of what they are doing), using an area of the brain next to the premotor cortex. Hence, the statement agrees with the information and the answer is ‘YES’.
37	NO	In paragraph C, it is said that the main functional characteristic of ‘mirror neurons’ is that they ‘become active’ both when the ‘monkey’ performs a particular action (for example, grasping an object or holding it) and, astonishingly, when it sees another individual performing a similar action.’ ‘Humans’ have an ‘even more elaborate mirror neuron system’. As the statement contradicts the information in the passage, the answer is ‘NO’.
38	NO	Paragraph C brings out the fact that in order to be activated, these cells require what the scientists call ‘goal-orientated movements’ like running, moving or sprinting. If we are ‘staring at a photograph’, a fixed image of a runner mid-stride, our ‘mirror neurons are totally silent’ (not activated). As the statement contradicts the information in the passage, the answer is ‘NO’.
39	NOT GIVEN	In paragraph D, it is given that the electrophysiological studies indicate that when we watch a golfer or a runner in action, the mirror neurons in our own premotor cortex light up as if we were the ones competing. This phenomenon of neural mirror was ‘first discovered’ in 1954, when ‘two French physiologists, Gastaut and Berf’ (the second name is Berf, not Bert), found that the brains of humans vibrate with two distinct wavelengths, alpha and mu. There is no information that besides being physiologists (researchers), they were sports players. So, the information is not given in the passage and the answer is ‘NOT GIVEN’.
40	YES	In paragraph D, it is informed that the ‘mu system’ is involved in neural mirroring. It is ‘active when your bodies are still’, and ‘disappears whenever we do something active’, like playing sports or changing the TV channel. Hence, the statement agrees with the information and the answer is ‘YES’.

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