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- NicoleD642
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Vinny Gambini
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Q24
I understand why all the wrong answer choices are wrong so by process of elimination it seems like A would be the best answer but I have a hard time understanding A. What is it saying and what parts of the passage support A ?
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- ohthatpatrick
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Atticus Finch
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Re: Q24
Sorry for the delayed response. This slipped through the cracks.
When RC answer choices say
"the author did X in order to / primarily to"
the correct answer usually isn't about WHAT we said about X, it's about WHY we were talking about X in the first place.
So the correct answer usually reinforces a broader claim made in the previous or following sentence, or it more broadly reinforces the author's local purpose within that paragraph.
When we review the text (1st paragraph) that compares a brain scan to an X-ray, we see it is preceded by a big idea:
there are some basic conceptual problems about using brain scans as pictures of mental activity.
Is the comparison to an X-ray a way of illustrating or identifying one of these basic conceptual problems? Not really. In fact, we hear that brain scans and X-rays are indubitably valuable when it comes to medical diagnosis.
We see that the X-ray comparison is also proceeded by a big idea:
the use of brain scans in psychology is NOT something with straightforward / indubitable value.
How does the X-ray comparison relate to that bigger claim?
It sounds like the author was just acknowledging a case in which brain scans are clearly valuable before pivoting into a discussion of a case in which brain scans are debatably valuable.
ANSWERS
A) this looks okay. It fulfills the time-honored tradition that the correct answer connects the detail they're asking about to the BIGGER claim that comes right before or right after the detail. Valid use: medical diagnosis. More doubtful value: it's role in psychology.
B) There's nothing connecting x-ray to the popularity of the modular theory.
C) There's no text about brain scans being imprecise. The ultimate hesitation is that the precise picture they offer can be interpreted in dubious ways.
D) There's nothing connecting x-ray to the legitimacy of the modular theory.
E) ha. No, there's no timeline that shows that brain scans came from x-rays
Hope this helps.
When RC answer choices say
"the author did X in order to / primarily to"
the correct answer usually isn't about WHAT we said about X, it's about WHY we were talking about X in the first place.
So the correct answer usually reinforces a broader claim made in the previous or following sentence, or it more broadly reinforces the author's local purpose within that paragraph.
When we review the text (1st paragraph) that compares a brain scan to an X-ray, we see it is preceded by a big idea:
there are some basic conceptual problems about using brain scans as pictures of mental activity.
Is the comparison to an X-ray a way of illustrating or identifying one of these basic conceptual problems? Not really. In fact, we hear that brain scans and X-rays are indubitably valuable when it comes to medical diagnosis.
We see that the X-ray comparison is also proceeded by a big idea:
the use of brain scans in psychology is NOT something with straightforward / indubitable value.
How does the X-ray comparison relate to that bigger claim?
It sounds like the author was just acknowledging a case in which brain scans are clearly valuable before pivoting into a discussion of a case in which brain scans are debatably valuable.
ANSWERS
A) this looks okay. It fulfills the time-honored tradition that the correct answer connects the detail they're asking about to the BIGGER claim that comes right before or right after the detail. Valid use: medical diagnosis. More doubtful value: it's role in psychology.
B) There's nothing connecting x-ray to the popularity of the modular theory.
C) There's no text about brain scans being imprecise. The ultimate hesitation is that the precise picture they offer can be interpreted in dubious ways.
D) There's nothing connecting x-ray to the legitimacy of the modular theory.
E) ha. No, there's no timeline that shows that brain scans came from x-rays
Hope this helps.
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