Communication Systems

Answer choices

1. A

   No Support Passage A9% picked this

   Are animals capable of deliberately prevaricating in order to achieve

   Passage A never gets into whether animals can lie (prevaricate) in order to achieve certain things.

   9%
2. B

   Correct71% picked this

   Are the communications of animals characterized by

   Why this is right

   Passage A never says the words "conscious intention", so it's a little frustrating to pick this answer. But what does conscious intention mean? LSAT will use a term that's only found in one passage if it means something equivalent to what's talked about in the other passage. When animals communicate, do they have conscious intent? Intent = A goal, trying to do something, a motive When animals communicate, do they have a goal? Are they trying to do something? Are they conscious of what they're trying to do? Passage A says things suggesting that animals are not consciously trying (intending) to make things happen with their communications. - they cannot attribute mental states to others - there's no evidence that frogs think other frogs can think, or believe that communicating with them will make them think thoughts that will alter their behavior. Most importantly, the final sentence, which is kind of serving as the big takeaway: you thought these animal vocalizations were goal-directed (intentional)? maaan, these aren't as purposeful (intentional) as they seem. Passage B starts off right away talking about communication that is an instinctive, automatic response to stimuli vs. human communication that is creative (conscious / goal-oriented). And, of course, the main Author Zone of Passage B is the second paragraph, starting with her "But" pivot. This whole paragraph is about whether we should give animals the benefit of the doubt as to whether they have something resembling the kind of "conscious" mental lives that we think we have.

   Skill tested: Primary Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   71%
3. C

   Too Strong: most likely1% picked this

   What kinds of stimuli are most likely to elicit

   Neither author was trying to do the countdown of the "Top 5 stimuli that are likely to produce animal vocalizations." We can find some stimuli in Passage A, just used as examples not singled out as special cases. But we would only find the example of the honeybee in Passage B, and it certainly doesn't play a big enough role to call the primary concern.

   1%
4. D

   Wrong Comparison4% picked this

   Are the communication systems of nonhuman primates qualitatively different from those of

   Wow, I thought for sure this would be correct. We would have definitely picked it had it said this: Are the communication systems of humans qualitatively different from those of all other animals?

   4%
5. E

   Out of Scope: scientific consensus14% picked this

   Is there a scientific consensus about the differences between animal communication systems

   Although science experiments, scientists, and scientific topics are definitely discussed in both passages, neither passage is specifically posing the question "is there a scientific consensus?" I don't know how either passage would answer this question, because neither passage got specific about how the scientific community largely feels. The passages are asking "What differences, if any, are there between animal communication systems and human language?" But they're not asking "Have scientists come to a consensus about differences?"

   14%