PrepTest 148, Section 2, Question 24
There are some basic conceptual problems hovering about(451 more words not shown)
The author draws an analogy(9 more words not shown)
- Acontrast a valid(10 more words not shown)
- Bsuggest that new(9 more words not shown)
- Cpoint to evidence(10 more words not shown)
- Dargue that X-ray(12 more words not shown)
- Eshow how brain(9 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Why compare a brain scan to an X-ray before introducing the psychological problem? Looking inside the body to diagnose a tumor is a use whose value the author accepts. That gives us a clear contrast with interpreting an image as a map of mental processes, which depends on the disputed modular premise.
What we’re looking for
The analogy helps establish the valid use; the following contrast tells us its role in the argument.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Medical diagnosis is the straightforward use, while psychological interpretation is the use of more doubtful value. The author is distinguishing applications of brain scans, not comparing two different scanning machines.
- B
The opening analogy does not explain how a new technology makes a theory popular. The appeal of images to supporters of modularity is addressed later.
- C
No measurement compares the precision of scans with that of X-rays or other technology. Being similar in principle does not mean one is shown to be less precise.
- D
No X-ray findings are presented as evidence against a theory. X-rays illustrate the familiar activity of looking inside the body.
- E
Similarity is not ancestry. The author says scans and X-rays are similar in principle for medical diagnosis, not that brain-scanning technology developed from X-ray technology.
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