PrepTest 147

Incorrect. While this answer might align with the information in the stimulus, it doesn't explain anything about the tongue extension speed of the veiled chameleon.

Incorrect. The distance they can extend doesn't explain why its retraction speed goes down in the cold but its extension speed doesn't—presumably, the chameleon retracts the tongue as far as it extends it.

Incorrect. The stimulus specifically notes that the tongue-speed phenomenon is a slowing "as the temperature falls," so just because some might live in an area that doesn't get cool enough for the muscles to weaken, others do, and those ones don't seem to have their tongue extension speed affected, contrary to expectations.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
Generalization - Cool weather weakens the muscles of cold-blooded creatures
Specific example - A cold-blooded chameleon slows down its tongue retraction in cold weather, but not its tongue extension

Answer Anticipation:
As with all Paradox questions, it's important to start off with a clear view as to what the paradox is.

Here, the stimulus raises something that's generally true of cold-blooded animals—their muscles get weaker in the cold. It then looks at a specific example—the veiled chameleon—and shows that the generalization holds true for some actions (retracting the tongue) but doesn't appear to for others (tongue extension).

Since we're tasked with resolving this—showing how both elements in the paradox can be simultaneously true—we need to explain how cold weather could weaken the muscle of the veiled chameleon while only affecting its tongue retraction speed. Since it's related to muscular strength, the correct answer will likely highlight that the tongue extension isn't controlled by muscular strength. It could also highlight that tongue retraction is, but this isn't necessary since that aligns with the generalization and was thus expected.

Answer Explanation:
This answer provides an explanation for how the veiled chameleon's muscles could weaken in the cold without affecting its tongue extension speed. If that action isn't controlled by muscles, then we shouldn't expect it to slow down when it gets cold.

Key Takeaway:
For Paradox questions, make sure you focus on what's unexpected. Here, while the correct answer did mention the tongue retraction speed, that piece of information aligned with expectations and thus wasn't strictly necessary for the correct answer. Focusing on the tongue extension speed would have allowed us to home in on the correct answer more quickly.

Incorrect. This doesn't address the tongue extension muscles (if they exist), so it can't resolve the key part of the paradox.