Brain Scans

Answer choices

1. A

   Weak Match15% picked this

   One particular district in the city voted for the new mayor by an unusually large margin, so the mayor could not

   It takes a second to realize that these answers are going to be giving us mini-arguments, so we should be expecting to match it up with the passage by finding an answer that sounds like, "We see [this sort of thing on the fMRI], so we should interpret that to mean [modular theory]." The essence of this answer choice is We see an unusually high differential in this region, so this region must have been crucial to the task I don't hate that, out of the gate. An "unusually large margin" is kind of like looking at differentials. But ultimately this is not the easiest available answer to match up with the passage. The modular theory, as far as we've heard, never assumed that "if unusually high differential, then necessary for that task". It was more like, "If there's a differential in that region, then and only then is that region involved in the task."

   15%
2. B

   Correct52% picked this

   A store launched a yearlong advertising campaign and had an increase in shoppers only during the summer, so the advertisements

   Why this is right

   The essence of this answer is "if uptick was only during the summer, then causal influence was only during the summer" Can we match that to, "If we see this on an fMRI, it means [modular theory]"? Yes, especially if we rephrase what this answer is saying into a form like, "Since there wasn't an increase of shoppers in other seasons, the ads didn't affect shoppers in other seasons." That's pretty similar to how the subtractive method gets interpreted: "If there wasn't an increase of brain activity in these regions of the brain, then task X didn't affect those regions of the brain". And, positively, "If someone doing task X only has an increase in activity in this region, then task X only affects that region".

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

   52%
3. C

   Bad Match17% picked this

   Much more of the water supply is used by agricultural customers than by residential customers, so it is the agricultural sector that is

   How well can we assign this argument to, "We see [this sort of thing on the fMRI], so we should interpret that to mean [modular theory]." The essence of this answer choice is We see more of X is used by A than by B, so A is particularly affected by a shortage of X. That doesn't really match up with anything. The first half doesn't sound like an fMRI, because fMRI's aren't comparing region A to region B. They're comparing region A's baseline to region A's activity level while doing task X. Also, the conclusion half here is saying "this is the region most affected by a shortage", and that doesn't match up with any of the modular / subtractive takeaways we heard in the passage.

   17%
4. D

   Bad Match14% picked this

   Internet traffic is highest during the evening hours, so most Internet traffic during these peak hours originates in homes

   Can we assign this argument to, "We see [this sort of thing on the fMRI], so we should interpret that to mean [this sort of modular theory concept]." The essence of this answer choice is X is higher at night, so X is related more to residences than workplaces. That doesn't really match up with anything. This interpretation relies on a pretty specific assumption that "people are more often in their homes than in office buildings during the evening hours". That assumption has nothing do to with fMRI's.

   14%
5. E

   Bad Match2% picked this

   The cheetah is the world's fastest land animal only for short distances, so most cheetahs cannot outrun another

   Can we assign this argument to, "We see [this sort of thing on the fMRI], so we should interpret that to mean [something related to modular theory]"? The essence of this answer choice is A is the #1 thing of its type only when it comes to task X, so most A's must lose to other things of its type when it comes to things not like task X. That doesn't really match up with anything. It's making a very specific move from "if you're group isn't #1 for task X, then most thing in your group cannot do task X better than anyone else outside you're group." If we just focus on the first half, there's no way to match up "cheetah is #1 only for category X" with the fMRI scans. There was no "#1, but only for category X".

   2%