PrepTest 140, Section 1, Question 6
A recent taste test reveals that most people(64 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- AMost people prefer(9 more words not shown)
- BThe subjects of(12 more words not shown)
- CThe more distinct(11 more words not shown)
- DVanilla is known(9 more words not shown)
- EMost people are(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What about vanilla? We've been told how complicated chocolate is, but we need something to compare it with.
The results are interesting: removing fat from chocolate ice cream apparently doesn't hurt its appeal the way removing fat from vanilla did in earlier tests. One possible explanation is the flavor. Another is the timing: perhaps the newer low-fat ice cream was made using better techniques. The different outcomes don't settle the cause by themselves.
The author points to chocolate's roughly 500 compounds and suggests that this complexity covers up the taste difference caused by removing fat. That could make sense. But if vanilla were just as complex, we would still be wondering why it failed to hide the difference.
What we’re looking for
To strengthen this particular explanation, I'd like to hear that vanilla is a much simpler flavor. Then the flavor that handles fat removal better would also be the more complex one. That wouldn't prove complexity caused the result, but it would fill an important gap in the comparison.
Working the answers
- A
Liking full-fat chocolate more than full-fat vanilla doesn't explain why removing fat makes one version less appealing while leaving the other just as appealing. General preference for chocolate and resistance to a change in fat content are different things.
- B
Keeping people unaware of fat content can help address a concern that expectations affected their ratings. But this answer concerns the previous vanilla tests, not a single experiment comparing both flavors under identical conditions. It doesn't tell us whether chocolate and vanilla differ in complexity, which is the proposed explanation for their different responses to fat removal.
- C
A complex flavor could be popular and still change noticeably when its fat is removed. This connects complexity with how much people like a flavor, not with whether complexity masks a taste difference. It also leaves us without information about vanilla's complexity.
- DCorrect
Vanilla is significantly less complex than chocolate. Now the contrast fits the proposed explanation: the more complex flavor hides the difference after fat removal, while the simpler one doesn't. We still haven't ruled out every alternative, including changes in how the ice cream was made. But D gives the complexity explanation support that was missing.
- E
People don't need to know the chemistry of a flavor to enjoy it or notice a harsh taste. Someone could know nothing about chocolate's compounds and still be unable to distinguish its low-fat version from its full-fat version. Awareness of the chemistry doesn't establish the proposed masking effect.
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