Passage 1 Rough stuff might think that the feel of a surface is what tells you how rough it is. But it turns out that things are not that simple. The sound you hear when you scratch a surface can interfere with what your fingers are trying to tell you. Says an Oxford psychologist, who has measured the effect for the first time People get genuinely confused when presented with a conflict between hearing and touch, says Donna Lloyd of the John Radcliffe Hospital. It takes them longer to make judgments about texture, and the effect is generally disconcerting To quantify the effect, known as the parchment skin illusion Lloyd asked blindfolded subjects to judge the roughness of sandpaper. At the same time, the sound of the surface being rubbed was relayed to them through headphones. By turning up the high frequencies, Lloyd could make the surface sound smoother. Turning down those frequencies made it sound rougher. Even though the subjects were told to ignore the sounds, they were significantly influenced by what they heard. When presented with a conflict, it took people an average of 80 milliseconds longer to judge the roughness, a full 10 per cent in the time to make a decision, "It's quite ng sensation,"says Lloyd, who say she was surprised by the effect. How subjects still generally got the answer right There's no situation where you're using only one sense. She says. She adds that this crossing of sensory inputs can change our behavior, even when were not aware of it. Lloyd and her group plan to study the effect through functional magnetic resonance imaging We don't like things that sound noisy, Lloyd says. And that could affect out buying habits in everything from clothes to furniture Vocabulary scratch 1.刮,擦 texture n.质地 disconcerting a.令人不安的,令人惊惶的 parchment n.羊皮纸 blindfold v.蒙住.的眼睛 frequency n频率 significantly ad.较大地 functional a.功能性的 resonance n.共鸣,回声Passage 1 Rough Stuff You might think that the feel of a surface is what tells you how rough it is. But it turns out that things are not that simple. The sound you hear when you scratch a surface can interfere with what your fingers are trying to tell you. Says an Oxford psychologist, who has measured the effect for the first time. People get genuinely confused when presented1 with a conflict between hearing and touch, says Donna Lloyd of the John Radcliffe Hospital. It takes them longer to2 make judgments about texture, and the effect is generally disconcerting. To quantify the effect, known as the parchment skin illusion Lloyd asked blindfolded subjects to judge the roughness of sandpaper. At the same time, the sound of the surface being rubbed was relayed to them through headphones. By turning up the high frequencies, Lloyd could make the surface sound smoother. Turning down those frequencies made it sound rougher. Even though the subjects were told to ignore the sounds, they were significantly influenced by what they heard. When presented with a conflict, it took people an average of 80 milliseconds longer to judge the roughness, a full 10 per cent in the time to make a decision, “It’s quite a strong sensation,” says Lloyd, who say she was surprised by the effect. However, the subjects still generally got the answer right. “There’s no situation where you’re using only one sense.” She says. She adds that this crossing of sensory inputs can change our behavior, even when we’re not aware of it. Lloyd and her group plan to study the effect through functional magnetic resonance imaging. “We don’t like things that sound noisy,” Lloyd says. And that could affect out buying habits in everything from clothes to furniture. Vocabulary scratch v. 刮，擦 texture n. 质地 disconcerting a. 令人不安的， 令人惊惶的 parchment n. 羊皮纸 blindfold vt. 蒙住...的眼睛 frequency n .频率 significantly adv. 较大地 functional a. 功能性的 resonance n. 共鸣， 回声