PrepTest 127, Section 1, Question 5
Researchers have found that, hours after birth, infants(33 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(13 more words not shown)
- ACertain abilities of(10 more words not shown)
- BThe longer an(13 more words not shown)
- CInfants learn to(10 more words not shown)
- DThe less an(15 more words not shown)
- EInfants learn to(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Only hours after birth? These babies are already treating a drawing of a face differently from a blank oval or a drawing with the eyes and nose rearranged. The very short time frame is what makes the ability interesting.
One possibility is that babies learn extremely quickly from the faces they encounter. Another is that some recognition of facial patterns is already present at birth. If the ability is built in, they would not have to spend weeks learning what a face looks like before responding differently to one.
The different looking times are the behavior we are given: the infants stare longer at the ordinary face. We do not need to invent an objection to every observation. Here the question accepts their ability to distinguish the images and asks us to explain it.
What we’re looking for
I would look for the second possibility: humans are born with some ability to recognize facial patterns. That would account for the ability appearing so soon.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
“Innate” means present naturally rather than acquired through learning. If humans begin life with some ability to recognize facial patterns, it makes sense that newborns can distinguish a face from a blank oval or scrambled features within hours. A directly explains how the ability can appear before much learning has taken place.
- B
This would help interpret a longer stare as greater interest. But why can the newborn already distinguish the face and find it more interesting? B labels what the looking time indicates without explaining the early ability that produces the different response.
- C
Associating faces with comfort and food might eventually help explain why a baby pays attention to faces. But C does not tell us that this association is learned within the few hours at issue. It also leaves us needing an explanation for how the baby identifies the facial pattern to begin with. We should not assume the missing speed of learning.
- D
This gives another way to interpret looking time: a shorter stare indicates a weaker preference. Like B, it does not explain why an infant only hours old can already respond differently to normal faces and other images. A preference is not an account of how the infant acquired the ability to distinguish the patterns.
- E
The experiment does not involve voices, and E does not establish that newborns learn this association in the first few hours. Connecting a voice with a face is a different learned association from the early visual recognition we need to explain. A addresses that early ability directly.
More Paradox questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Paradox questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.