The five senses have traditionally

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct63% picked this

   Synesthesiacs demonstrate a general, systematic impairment in their ability to use

   Why this is right

   This provides an Alternate Explanation for the curious fact (that's the most common pattern on Weaken questions). Instead of explaining the research results ("this banana tastes like blue" / "this color smells like rain") as the author does, by positing that synesthesiacs have different brains in which sensory organs cross-communicate, this answer offers a different explanation: "Given that synesthesiacs are famously bad at using and understanding words (they have a general and systematic impairment), maybe they're saying that the banana tastes blue simply because they have an impairment when it comes to using and understanding words)."

   Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   63%
2. B

   No Impact13% picked this

   Recent evidence strongly suggests that there are other senses besides sight, touch, smell,

   The existence of a 6th or 7th sense doesn't weaken this argument at all. We're just trying to figure out why synesthesiacs seem to blend the 5 senses we already know of. For everyone else, it's usually thought that there are distinct boundaries between these 5 senses. For synesthesiacs, it seems like there aren't. How come? We wouldn't be able to say, "the synesthesiacs are different because all humans have 7 senses." We would need a fact that's distinctive to synesthesiacs, if we're trying to distinguish them from the rest of us.

   13%
3. C

   Strengthens, if anything18% picked this

   The particular ways in which sensory experiences overlap in synesthesiacs follow

   The fact that the sensory experiences overlap in a definite pattern makes it more likely that there is a physical, physiological explanation for synesthesia. If synesthesiacs were randomly making stuff up, there probably wouldn't be a definite pattern to the specific ways in which the experiences overlap.

   18%
4. D

   No Impact1% picked this

   The synesthetic phenomenon has been described in the legends of

   This helps us understand that synesthesia has existed among humans for a while, but it does nothing to clarify what synesthesia is. Are all these synesthesiacs throughout history blending senses because their senses don't respect the usual boundaries, or for some other reason? This answer doesn't help us assess that central question at all.

   1%
5. E

   Strengthens, if anything5% picked this

   Synesthesiacs can be temporarily rid of their synesthetic experiences by the

   The fact that synesthesia can be affected by drugs suggests that there is a neurochemical / physiological basis to it, which adds some plausibility to the author's explanation. If synesthesia were really just a psychological or behavioral phenomenon, then changing people's biochemistry wouldn't be as likely to affect it. By "drugs" here, it means medicine, not recreational mind-altering drugs (which are probably going to make everyone a synesthesiac for a couple hours).

   5%