PrepTest 123, Section 4, Question 11
The two passages discuss recent scientific research on(479 more words not shown)
Passage A(208 more words not shown)
Passage B(258 more words not shown)
It can be inferred that(14 more words not shown)
- Athe increase in(6 more words not shown)
- Bfewer differences than(11 more words not shown)
- Cbrain size increased(7 more words not shown)
- Dthe capacity to(8 more words not shown)
- Emother-infant bonding involves(4 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
They disagree about how music developed. A treats it as something that came along with language; B connects it to the useful bonds between mothers and infants. That's the broad disagreement I would carry into the choices.
What we’re looking for
Now we need a specific claim that separates those explanations. Be careful: A's silence about babies doesn't mean its writer rejects B's facts about babies. A disagreement requires reasons to put the two writers on opposite sides of the same claim.
Working the answers
- A
B connects larger brains with increasingly early births. A doesn't discuss the timing of births, so we have no reason to say it rejects that connection.
- B
A does say the neurological processing is more similar than different. B doesn't take a position on that comparison, much less dispute it.
- C
Both discuss increasing brain size. B calls the increase rapid, but A doesn't say it was slow; omitting the word doesn't establish a disagreement.
- DCorrect
Here the explanations pull in opposite directions. A assigns music little independent benefit for survival or reproduction (Passage A, paragraph 3). B describes a “considerable evolutionary advantage”: musical interactions help create bonds that support the care helpless infants need. A treats music largely as a byproduct; B gives the capacity a substantial benefit that helps explain its development.
- E
A doesn't discuss mother–infant interactions. We cannot turn that absence into a rejection of B's description of their patterned exchanges.
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