Logical Reasoning

PT110 · S2 · Q4 For newborns of age four

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For newborns of age four to six weeks whose mothers have been the primary caregivers, the following is true: When the newborns are crying due to hunger or other similar discomfort, merely hearing the mother’s voice will lead to a temporary halt in crying, while the voices of others do not have this effect.

Statements

causal difference-maker

when it comes to newborns 4-6 weeks old that have had Mom as the primary caregiver,

Mom's voice - causes them to stop crying temporarily Anyone else's voice - does not cause a temporary halt in crying

Evaluate

Usually if Most Supported questions present some causal distinction (a causal difference-maker), the correct answer is a safely worded reinforcement of that. It doesn't speculate why it's occurring; it just reiterates that it's occurring or mentions some spin-off truth that is required for this causal difference-maker to work:

- babies have hearing - the sound of Mom's voice is perceived differently by them - sometimes their crying stops in response to a sound they've heard

Goal

Look for a safely worded answer that reinforces the idea that a Mom's voice can effect a temporary pause in crying.

Beware strong wording, unknown comparisons, and out of scope ideas.

4.

Which one of the following is most reasonably supported by the information above?

  1. Babies more easily learn to

    Unknown Comparison

    This feels pretty close, except this situation stipulated that Mom is the primary caregiver. It might be that if Dad were the primary caregiver, then a 4-6 week old baby would stop crying for his voice. Or if Tony, the baby's nanny, is the primary caregiver, then the 4-6 week old baby would stop crying for Tony's voice.

    7% picked this

  2. A mother’s voice is the

    Too Strong: first thing

    We can't tell from this paragraph what the very first voice is that a baby learns to recognize. Perhaps the Dad's (or other Mom's) voice is already more recognizable from how much the baby heard their voice while in the womb, while the biological Mom's voice sounded weirdly different since the baby was actually inside her body.

    1% picked this

  3. Correct

    Babies associate the voice of

    Why this is right

    This is quite a stretch as a correct answer, but it reinforces the causal difference-maker. The baby stops crying from discomfort when they hear the voice of their primary caregiver, but don't stop crying for anyone else. Given that the primary caregiver is probably the voice the baby is most exposed to, we might explain the halting of crying as simply "wait, what is that important person saying?" Like maybe they stop crying because they want to hear the voice they most recognize. But that's probably a less common sense way to explain this (a pre-linguistic baby wants to understand the words that a familiar adult is uttering?) than it is to think that the baby is trying to get attention for its discomfort, expects the primary caregiver to be the one most likely to relieve the discomfort, and associates the voice of the primary caregiver with "Okay, they received my message. They're on their way to help." Remember it's a temporary halt in crying, suggesting that if the baby hear's the caregiver's voice but does not get their discomfort promptly relieved, they'll just start crying again.

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

    82% picked this

  4. Often only a primary caregiver

    Too Strong: only

    We knew that the baby would only temporarily halt crying for a primary caregiver, but "temporary halt in crying" isn't the same thing as "can provide comfort". It might be that someone besides a primary caregiver can pick the baby up and burp it, providing comfort. This paragraph was just saying "often, the only voice that could provide temporary comfort is a primary caregiver's"

    4% picked this

  5. Discomfort in newborns is best

    Too Strong: best

    The causal-difference maker isn't necessarily "Mom"; it might just be primary caregiver. And this information isn't saying that voice is the best way to relieve discomfort. It might be that picking up and burping, or feeding, or changing a diaper is the best way to relieve discomfort. We only heard that a certain type of voice can temporarily halt crying, while all other voices don't.

    5% picked this

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