Logical reasoning PrepTest 107 · Section 4 · Question 11

Question prompt

Sometimes when their trainer Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

Dolphins do different things when given the “Be creative!” signal
Intermediate conclusion - They’re not just responding to the signal
Main point - Dolphins have higher cognitive functions (e.g., language, forethought)

Answer Anticipation

The stimulus here concludes that dolphins have higher cognitive functions. Specifically here, it’s talking about creativity.
Why does it believe they have such cognitive abilities? Because they have two tricks that they do when they receive a signal to be creative. That means they have multiple responses to the same stimulus.
From this behavior, the Author concludes (intermediate conclusion) that they’re not simply responding to a stimulus - they must actually be responding creatively. However, that assumes that they didn’t learn to respond to the hand signal with these two specific actions - maybe they’re just alternating between them.
To show that they are acting creatively in response to that hand signal, then, we should look for any answer establishing that they were simply trained to respond in this manner, but rather actually came up with these tricks to be creative.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Mammals have some resemblance Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    “[S]ome resemblance” doesn’t guarantee that the brain structure will allow for higher cognitive function, so this answer is too weak to affect the argument.
  2. B
    The dolphins often exhibit Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    The stimulus notes that the dolphins do two things when told to be creative. That could mean that they’ve learned to respond to the hand signal with those two actions, not that they’re engaged in creative thinking (a higher cognitive function). However, if the dolphins are constantly doing crazy new things when told to be creative, that strengthens the argument that they are being creative - making up new responses - thus strengthening the argument.
  3. C
    The dolphins are given Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The incentives to learn a trick doesn’t speak to whether they came up with these responses on their own, or if they were trained specifically to respond to the hand signals in this manner.
  4. D
    Dolphins do not interact Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Them responding differently could show creativity...or it could show that they’re learned to act differently in the different contexts. Since this answer doesn’t address higher cognitive functions, it’s out of scope.
  5. E
    Some of the behaviors Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    These dolphins out in nature could also be acting creatively, or they could be responding to some stimulus in the environment. This answer doesn’t let us know if this behavior is creative or not, so it doesn’t affect the argument.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 8%
  2. B Credited 67%
  3. C 1%
  4. D 5%
  5. E 18%

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