Q27

[ttunden]

Here is my explanation

So we get the line reference(39-40). what is the point of this paragraph? well it is the author saying why the new explanation appeals strongly to people. Remember that the author doesn't accept this new explanation.

For this type of question you usually want to look right before the quoted lines in order to see WHY the author mentions that specific fact.

We can see in lines 36-38 why the author mentiosn that we look into mirrors. This was an example meant to illustrate that mirrors are designed to make 2d images appear to have depth.. so 3d.

A no, no contrasting here. Doesn't match my prephase, going to eliminate
B Opposite. the author says there is no relationship between these two ( lines 32-34) so not sure why lines 39-40 would illustrate something the author explicitly said does not exist.
D this was tempting for me since it is also stated before the example(39-40). However, it might be a little extreme/broad. we TYPICALLY deal with mental constructs rather than perceptions??!? author just says mirrors are the exceptions in line 32-34, so mirrors is where the above relationship will occur. The author says everything else... I assume, will have the relationship of perception and mental constructs.

So C is the better match
E no , I don't recall anything about psychological activity, I am going to eliminate this because it isn't mentioned in that paragraph, let alone the entire passage.

[maria487]

Can someone please further expand on why C is correct here? I thought the lines mentioned were supporting the idea presented in lines 34-36. I went with D reluctantly, but did so because it mentions mental constructs vs. perceptions.

[maryadkins]

It's this:

"Mirrors are designed to make a two dimensional surface appear to have depth. Note, for example, that mirrors are among the few objects on which we almost never focus our eyes."

The quoted text is given as an explicit example of making 2D into 3D, i.e. (C).

(D) isn't given as the reason for providing this example. Be very literal on the LSAT!

[andrewgong01]

Here is my explanation

So we get the line reference(39-40). what is the point of this paragraph? well it is the author saying why the new explanation appeals strongly to people. Remember that the author doesn't accept this new explanation.

For this type of question you usually want to look right before the quoted lines in order to see WHY the author mentions that specific fact.

We can see in lines 36-38 why the author mentiosn that we look into mirrors. This was an example meant to illustrate that mirrors are designed to make 2d images appear to have depth.. so 3d.

A no, no contrasting here. Doesn't match my prephase, going to eliminate
B Opposite. the author says there is no relationship between these two ( lines 32-34) so not sure why lines 39-40 would illustrate something the author explicitly said does not exist.
D this was tempting for me since it is also stated before the example(39-40). However, it might be a little extreme/broad. we TYPICALLY deal with mental constructs rather than perceptions??!? author just says mirrors are the exceptions in line 32-34, so mirrors is where the above relationship will occur. The author says everything else... I assume, will have the relationship of perception and mental constructs.

So C is the better match
E no , I don't recall anything about psychological activity, I am going to eliminate this because it isn't mentioned in that paragraph, let alone the entire passage.

I disagree with "D" in terms of the reason to rule it out. The passage states that we usually prefer mental construct over perception which is factually true and hence makes "D" factually true. Hence it isn't too broad.

Mirrors are the exceptions to dealing with mental construct over perception (in terms of how/why I do not understand but it seems like the passage is implying this). I think a better way to rule out "D" is because of choice "C". The quoted lines are indeed used to partly show the fact that mirrors are the exception where mirrors falsely simulate 3D reality. In other words, "D" is not factually wrong and on a really broad level is the purpose of the quoted line --> it shows an exception to to the rule of mental constructs over perceptions. But this is a really broad interpretation and stretch to say that this quoted line was primarily used to show we tend to prefer one method over the other (if anything this is more so to show the exception to the rule)

Choice C is more direct and precise at getting this point across : mirrors are falsely simulating 3D and as a result humans do not respond by dealing more with mental constructs over perceptions when dealing with mirrors

[Yu440]

Hi, I answered this question correctly but I was definitely tempted by A. I thought that the statement "mirrors are among the few objects on which we almost never focus our eyes" made an implicit comparison between objects that we do focus our eyes vs objects that we don't. Therefore there is an implicit contrast between perceiving an object (ie when we focus our eyes) and imagining objects (ie when our focal lengths are adjusted into the imagined space). Is there a sure way to eliminate A? Thanks!

[ohthatpatrick]

I think you're getting too loose with what it means to "imagine" an object.

Imagining involves creating a mental fiction that exists only in your ... imagination.

You can see it in your mind's eye, but not with your eye's eye. Looking through an object is not imagining. You might see your friend zone out and look "through" your face with a 1000-yard stare.

He is not focusing on your face; he's focusing beyond it. But that doesn't mean he's imagining your face. He's imagining whatever scene is playing out in his mental theater.

Even if we were perceiving something that is an optical illusion, we wouldn't call that imagining. Optical illusions are just our perceptual mechanisms being interpreted a certain way by our brains. Imagining is an effortful mental act, and it doesn't require any perceptual information to go off of.

Hope this helps.