PrepTest 123, Section 4, Question 14
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(9 more words not shown)
- APassage A and(9 more words not shown)
- BPassage A poses(8 more words not shown)
- CPassage A proposes(11 more words not shown)
- DPassage A expresses(10 more words not shown)
- EPassage A and(10 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
How do these accounts relate? Keep the actual proposals in view: A says music developed on the coattails of language, while B traces its origins to interactions that support mother–infant care. Both are trying to explain the capacity we have, but they don't give the same account of it.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
A uses brain imaging and the relative proficiency in music and language to support its byproduct account. B uses filmed interactions and the need for infant care to support an adaptive role in bonding. The evidence is different, and the conclusions diverge over the role musical capacity played in its own evolution.
- B
B does address the broad question raised in A, so this is tempting. But A doesn't merely pose a question for B to answer: it develops its own explanation. This choice misses the contrast between the two proposed answers, which A captures.
- C
B isn't adding evidence to support A's byproduct hypothesis. It gives music an important adaptive role that conflicts with A's claim that music had little adaptive value of its own.
- D
Both offer explanations they consider plausible. We aren't given a basis for ranking A's commitment as stronger than B's.
- E
The evidence does differ, but the conclusions aren't the same. Music accompanying language with little independent benefit is different from musical capacity developing because it supports beneficial mother–infant bonds.
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