Q20 - Amusia

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Inference (most supported)

Stimulus Breakdown:
Contrast/causality. Amusia prevented people from hearing different pitches of notes but allowed them to hear different time sequences of notes.

Answer Anticipation:
We're looking for some safe way to straddle the idea that volunteers with amusia couldn't discern different pitch but could discern different timing.

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This is possible, but hardly a conservative reading. It's possible that they simply have a "normal" perception of timing.

(B) We can support this since the people with amusia were unable to discern pitch but were able to discern timing.

(C) This answer talks about a way to work around amusia and finally be able to tell pitches apart. But that didn't happen. Our volunteers never got to where they could tell pitches apart.

(D) "Not at all" is very extreme. We know that not being able to discern pitch probably impacts their ability to learn a melody. But not being able to perceive timing would also impact an ability to learn a melody. If you knew all the notes in the US National Anthem but didn't know the timing of those notes, then you wouldn't know the melody.

(E) The "learned" vs. "innate" difference was never spoken of, so this seems to be completely off the page.

Takeaway/Pattern: Initially, I thought B was wrong because I was thinking that amusia referred to some mental disorder that resulted IN, not from, an inability to discern pitch. But once I ruled out all other answers, I reconsidered B and re-read the stimulus, finding that amusia wasn't defined as a brain malfunction. It was defined as a difficulty with doing certain things, and it's reasonable to see why being unable to discern pitch would result in amusia (not the other way around ... being unable to discern pitch is more limited than being unable to discern different melodies, which are based on pitch and timing). This answer choice is still far from provable. We only examined SOME cases of amusia. Other cases might be limited by an inability to discern timing. But this is "most strongly support", so the answer doesn't have to be perfect.

#officialexplanation

[nayanthikaram]

Can someone explain to me why B is the correct answer? All the answers seem equally vague to me. And B says "Amusia results from an inability to discern pitch...". Would it not be the other way round? Won't Amusia be the reason for the difficulty these people face in pitch differentiating.

[bobjon1259]

Question Type:
Inference (most supported)

Stimulus Breakdown:
Contrast/causality. Amusia prevented people from hearing different pitches of notes but allowed them to hear different time sequences of notes.

Answer Anticipation:
We're looking for some safe way to straddle the idea that volunteers with amusia couldn't discern different pitch but could discern different timing.

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This is possible, but hardly a conservative reading. It's possible that they simply have a "normal" perception of timing.

(B) We can support this since the people with amusia were unable to discern pitch but were able to discern timing.

(C) This answer talks about a way to work around amusia and finally be able to tell pitches apart. But that didn't happen. Our volunteers never got to where they could tell pitches apart.

(D) "Not at all" is very extreme. We know that not being able to discern pitch probably impacts their ability to learn a melody. But not being able to perceive timing would also impact an ability to learn a melody. If you knew all the notes in the US National Anthem but didn't know the timing of those notes, then you wouldn't know the melody.

(E) The "learned" vs. "innate" difference was never spoken of, so this seems to be completely off the page.

Takeaway/Pattern: Initially, I thought B was wrong because I was thinking that amusia referred to some mental disorder that resulted IN, not from, an inability to discern pitch. But once I ruled out all other answers, I reconsidered B and re-read the stimulus, finding that amusia wasn't defined as a brain malfunction. It was defined as a difficulty with doing certain things, and it's reasonable to see why being unable to discern pitch would result in amusia (not the other way around ... being unable to discern pitch is more limited than being unable to discern different melodies, which are based on pitch and timing). This answer choice is still far from provable. We only examined SOME cases of amusia. Other cases might be limited by an inability to discern timing. But this is "most strongly support", so the answer doesn't have to be perfect.

#officialexplanation

Can someone explain to me why B is the correct answer? All the answers seem equally vague to me. And B says "Amusia results from an inability to discern pitch...". Would it not be the other way round? Won't Amusia be the reason for the difficulty these people face in pitch differentiating.

I have the same question as the poster above. Patrick, can you please chime in?

Thank you!

[ohthatpatrick]

Sure, although I fear I'll just be re-hashing what I said earlier.

Think about a condition like nausea (a queasy stomach), which RESULTS from things.
We could say nausea results more from what you eat than from what you see.

Think about a condition like dementia (a lack of mental sharpness), which RESULTS from things. We could say dementia results more from deterioration of brain cells than from deterioration of heart function.

They are defining a condition called amusia (a difficulty in being able to tell melodies apart or to remember simple melodies).

A melody has two components: the pitch (which note you're playing or singing) and the timing (WHEN you're playing or singing that pitch).

So someone with amusia could potentially have a hard time discerning/remembering melodies because they can't hear the separate pitches right, because they can't hear the timing of the pitches right, or both.

Since these neuroscientists discovered that the volunteers could NOT discern shifts in pitch but WERE able to discern shifts in timing, we can tell that their difficulty in hearing/remembering melodies (i.e. their amusia) is a result of their problems with pitch, not a problem with time.

Hope this helps.