A study of guppy fish shows

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct76% picked this

   When a model of a female guppy was substituted for the female guppy, male guppies still courted, but were not more likely to

   Why this is right

   This strengthens in the classic No Cause, No Effect style. The author is arguing that a male guppy shows more orange in response to feedback from a female guppy. CAUSE EFFECT feedback from female male shows more orange We can make this seem more plausible by demonstrating that when the supposed cause is absent, the effect is absent. That's what this answer does. A model of a female guppy cannot give feedback, because it's motionless. When feedback from a female wasn't present, the "showing more orange" alteration to courting patterns no longer happened.

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

   76%
2. B

   No Impact3% picked this

   In many other species females show a preference for symmetry of coloring rather than

   The fact that this mismatches with what we heard about female guppies technically has no strengthening or weakening effect, but given that superficially it feels more like weaken than strengthen, we can safely get rid of this one. Female guppies didn't seem to care as much about symmetry as they did about maximizing the quantity of orange.

   3%
3. C

   No Impact: orange heredity1% picked this

   No studies have been done on whether male guppies with more orange coloring father more offspring than those

   The argument doesn't really care whether splotchy orange is a trait that gets passed on via the male bloodline. It only cares about whether the males were showing off their orange side in response to female feedback.

   1%
4. D

   No Impact4% picked this

   Female guppies have little if any orange coloring on

   It wouldn't change this argument one bit if females were 100% orange, 0% orange, or anything in between.

   4%
5. E

   No Impact16% picked this

   The male and female guppies were kept in separate tanks so they could see each other but

   Separate tanks vs. the same tank doesn't have any clear relevance. This answer isn't ruling out an alternate explanation for why the males showed more orange. And it's not adding any plausibility to the story that they showed more orange in response to female feedback. So, it's not doing anything for us.

   16%