Question

modern life is full of distractions - and some of them can have a negative effect on our ability to concentrate when studying. the problem is that many people tend to underestimate how much they are distracted by whats going on around them. heres how you can get the most from your studies by considering your environment. reading is often accompanied by a cacophony of background speech, such as from the television or the conversations of friends or colleagues. when trying to concentrate on a task, people often report that the presence of nearby speech is annoying. however, they are usually not very good at accurately estimating how distracted they will be by such sounds. when measured in the lab, peoples ability to carry out study - related tasks is usually made worse by irrelevant speech in the background. for example, a recent study recorded participants eye movements as they read texts and listened to irrelevant background speech. the results showed reading needed more effort because participants more often had to go back to previously read words and re - examine them. this distraction occurred because readers were inadvertently trying to listen to the irrelevant speech and process its meaning, even though it had nothing to do with what they were reading. listening to music is another common distraction that many students choose. a recent survey found that 62% of university students were listening to music while studying or doing homework. but, again, recent eye - tracking evidence suggests that listening to music also reduces reading efficiency in a similar way to irrelevant speech. assessment questions which two statements best describe how paragraphs 1 - 2 contribute to the overall article? a. they explain why many people engage with distractions while studying. b. they introduce the idea that many people prefer silence while studying. c. they establish how prevalent distractions are for people while studying. d. they theorize why some people prefer background noise while studying. e. they describe experiments on how to best ignore distractions while studying. f. they assert that people misjudge the extent to which distractions impact studying.

Explanation:

The article discusses how distractions like background speech and music affect people's ability to concentrate while studying. Paragraphs 1 - 2 talk about common distractions and their negative impact on reading efficiency. Statements A and F summarize these ideas. A mentions people engaging with distractions, and F points out people misjudging the extent of distractions' impact.

Answer:

A. They explain why many people engage with distractions while studying.
F. They assert that people misjudge the extent to which distractions impact studying.