Normally, the pineal gland governs a person's sleepwake cycle by secreting melatonin in response to the daily cycle of light and darkness as detected by the eye. Nonetheless, many people who are totally blind due to lesions in the visual cortex of the brain easily maintain a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. So the neural pathway by which the pineal gland receives information from the eye probably does not pass through the visual cortex.
For purposes of evaluating the argument it would be most useful to establish which of the following?
Whether melatonin supplements help people who have difficulty maintaining a 24-hour sleep cycle to establish such a pattern
Whether the melatonin levels of most totally blind people who successfully maintain a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle change in response to changes in exposure to light and darkness
Whether melatonin is the only substance secreted by the pineal gland
Whether most people who do not have a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle nevertheless have a cycle of consistent duration
Whether there are any people with normal vision whose melatonin levels respond abnormally to periods of light and darkness
情景:通常,松果体通过分泌褪黑激素来控制一个人的睡-醒循环,而释放褪黑激素是眼睛对其探测到的光和暗的一种反应。然而,许多因为大脑视觉皮质受到损伤致盲的人可以很容易地维持24小时的睡-醒循环。所以,从眼睛到松果体的神经传导可能不通过大脑的视觉皮质。
推理:由于前提和结论讲的是两件事,并且结论为因,所以本题为果因推理。
正常人靠感光调节黑色素,盲人黑色素也能调节改变的话,那说明皮质层不是光线的通道。 如果黑色素水平没有改变,说明一定是光线的通道,因为在这里盲人和正常人唯一不同的是皮质损伤与否,如果带来了另一个改变,黑色素调节与否,说明两者一定有联系。 至于盲人黑色素不调节的情况下怎么维持周期并不在讨论范围内,盲人肯定有其他办法,在这里不需要考虑这个问题。
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