Logical reasoning PrepTest 127 · Section 1 · Question 5

Question prompt

Researchers have found that, Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Argument or Facts

Facts

Valid or Flawed

NA

Question Type

Paradox Questions

Stimulus Summary

Newborns can distinguish between faces and other images.

Answer Anticipation

This Paradox question is interesting in that a “side” of the paradox isn’t explicitly stated. That “side” is that hours-old newborns shouldn’t really know how to do anything, or recognize anything, because they haven’t been in the world long enough to really have learned anything - including what faces look like, and that faces are other people.
But they can still recognize them within those hours, as witnessed by staring for longer at them than other images.
Since there’s no real information presented in the stimulus, the correct answer could be anything that explains how this happens. Based on how the LSAT usually presents things like this, however, we can anticipate an answer - that this ability is nature rather than nurture. That dichotomy is frequently brought up on the LSAT, and since it fits here, we should expect it as the answer.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Certain abilities of facial Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    This answer provides an explanation for how humans can recognize faces after being alive only for a few hours - it’s a part of our nature, not learned. If that’s the case, then newborns wouldn’t need time to learn to recognize faces, and thus them being able to distinguish between faces and other images right after birth makes sense.
  2. B
    The longer an infant Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This answer implies that infants find faces more interesting than other objects, but not why, so it doesn’t provide an explanation.
  3. C
    Infants learn to associate Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Not within the first few hours they don’t, so this answer doesn’t provide an explanation. It’s the wrong side of the dichotomy - arguing that recognizing faces is nurture, not nature.
  4. D
    The less an infant Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    This answer implies that infants have less of a preference for other objects compared to faces, but not why that’s the case within the first few hours of life, so it doesn’t provide an explanation.
  5. E
    Infants learn to associate Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Another answer that sides with nurture over nature - but learning this association won’t happen in the first few hours, so this answer can’t explain a phenomenon that happens in that time period.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 79%
  2. B 4%
  3. C 11%
  4. D 3%
  5. E 3%

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