Changes in reading habits: reading answers and analysis
A neuroscientist argues that the brain's reading circuit adapts to its medium, and digital reading favours speed over the slow 'deep reading' behind critical analysis and empathy. Students avoid difficult classics, read screens with weaker comprehension, and skim by word-spotting. The effects reach all ages, but 'use it or lose it' means the damage can still be reversed.
Questions 14-26 · 13 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The multiple choice (14-17) covers the first five paragraphs. The summary (18-22) is the Mangen and Liu studies. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (23-26) covers the last two paragraphs.
Questions 14-17
The plane scene introduces an 'invisible' change in our brains. Turkle says we go wrong when we ignore what innovation diminishes. The fourth paragraph says the reading circuit adapts to its environment. Edmundson's students choose simpler texts over classics.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | A | — |
| 15 | B | — |
| 16 | D | — |
| 17 | B | — |
Questions 18-22
The studies show 'troubling' (worrying) trends, and the questions tested how thorough each group's understanding was. Screen readers found sequencing hard. Liu's skimmers spot isolated words and miss the combined content. Decide adjective or adverb first, because several options are grammatically close.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | D | — |
| 19 | H | — |
| 20 | F | — |
| 21 | B | — |
| 22 | C | — |
Questions 23-26
The medium changes 'what we read' (YES). The loss 'affects us all equally', so the age-group statement is NO. The writer warns we're more susceptible to false information but never says it has spread. 'Use it or lose it' means we can still fix things (YES).
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | YES | — |
| 24 | NO | — |
| 25 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 26 | YES | — |
The questions most people get wrong
NO. 'The subtle atrophy of critical analysis and empathy affects us all equally', which directly contradicts some age groups being more at risk.
NOT GIVEN. The writer says we become susceptible to false information, but doesn't claim there is more of it now.
B (isolated). Word-spotting means picking out isolated words and phrases. 'Fast' describes skimming, but it doesn't fit 'read ___ words'.
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 16 Test 4 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 16, Test 4, Reading Passage 2. The passage name belongs to Cambridge University Press. No passage text or question wording is reproduced on this page. The answers are published for self-marking, and the analysis is our own.