53,(生命科学 /科学假说 /并列)Thirteen years ago, researchers studied a group of 25 infants(1) who showed sig ns of mild distress(4) when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unu sual odor or a tape record ing of an unknown voice. They discovered that these infants were more likely tha n other infants to have bee n con ceived in early autu mn (2), a time whe n their mothers' product ion of melat onin (3) —a horm one known to affect some brain functions — would n aturally in crease in resp onse to decreased daylight. I n a follow-up study con ducted earlier this year, more tha n half of these childre n — now tee nagers — who had show n sig ns of distress iden tified themselves as shy(5). Clearly, in creased levels of melat onin before birth cause shyness(4) during infancy and this shyness continues into later life(6). ★★★★ The sample of the men ti oned study is too limited. (qua ntity of the sample) ★★★ No direct evidenee is provided to show that it is the high levels of mothers' producti on of Melat onin that resulted in the distress showed by the infants studied. (confusing con curre nee with causality) ★★★★ The author fails to prove that i ncreased levels of mothers ' product ion of Melato nin will directly affect their infan ts. (UA) ★★★★ The author simply equates mild distress with shyness. () ★★★★ Different in dividuals may defi ne the term shy in various ways. (defi niti on of the term ‘shy' ) ★★★★ Many other gen etic or environmen tal factors will cause shyn ess in those tee nagers. () ★★★★ 25 infan ts,mild distress 论断:出生前某素的高含量会使婴儿害羞,而且这种害羞会继 续。因为研究者在13年前对25个对陌生刺激表现敏感的婴儿进行了研究, 发现他们比其他 婴儿更多地在秋季怀上。 而秋季母亲体内的影响大脑功能的某素产量会因为日光的下降而天 然上升。如今这 25名婴儿都十几岁了,今年一项跟踪调查发现他们大部分都认为自己很害 羞。•论断忽略了一个前提,就是某素是否会导致婴儿害羞。论者没有提供任何对某素的 科学研究,以说明某素的功能或是作用是什么。 论者甚至没有提供资料证明某素是否会对婴 儿产生影响。虽然论者说某素是一种对某些大脑功能有影响的荷尔蒙, 但并没有告诉我们这 种影响是对母亲,还是对胎儿。 •论断的论据没有说服力。论断引用一项 13年前对25个 对陌生刺激反应敏感的婴儿的研究和今年的跟踪研究。 但首先论者没有提供资料表明婴儿表 现出来的敏感一下是因为害羞, 我们不能排除这是因为刺激带来的生理上的不舒服。 而在跟 踪研究中,论者也没有提供有关这些孩子在