PrepTest 123, Section 4, Question 13
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)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- AInvestigations of the(14 more words not shown)
- BAll human capacities(11 more words not shown)
- CThe fact that(15 more words not shown)
- DThe discovery of(16 more words not shown)
- EThe behavior of(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
What principle are both arguments relying on? A reasons from the relationship between music and language to a claim about how they evolved. B reasons from mother–infant interaction to an explanation of music's origins.
What we’re looking for
We need a principle that makes sense of the reasoning in both, even though they reach different conclusions.
Working the answers
- A
Neither argument uses nonhuman animal behavior. They don't rely on a rule that investigating human origins must include such evidence.
- B
“All human capacities” goes far beyond these arguments about music. Even B's claim that musical capacity offers an advantage doesn't establish that every human capacity can be explained that way.
- C
This fits A: the shared neurological system supports the inference that music and language evolved together. But B doesn't compare two capacities sharing a system, so this isn't a principle behind both arguments.
- D
Neither claims that identifying a behavior's neurological basis reveals its essence. The proposed explanations concern evolutionary origins, not a rule equating the brain mechanism with everything fundamental about a behavior.
- ECorrect
Both use present behavior as a clue to the evolutionary past. A considers how people use music and language today, including the greater proficiency in language. B studies mother–infant interactions observed today and asks what advantage they could have given earlier humans. For either argument to work, modern behavior must be capable of providing evidence about the origins of these abilities.
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