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Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some [#permalink]
 01 Feb 2013, 23:52
Question Stats:
19% (02:33) correct
80% (01:37) wrong based on 1 sessions
Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-informed scientists, photographic memory is a myth. Most of the top competitors at this summer’s national memory championship have brains that are neurologically indistinguishable from those of the general population and cognitive abilities that are seldom more than a standard deviation above average. Which of the following would LEAST strengthen the argument above? The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory. People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population. Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.
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Last edited by greatps24 on 02 Feb 2013, 05:09, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 04:22
Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-informed scientists, photographic memory is a myth. Most of the top competitors at this summer’s national memory championship have brains that are neurologically indistinguishable from those of the general population and cognitive abilities that are seldom more than a standard deviation above average.
Which of the following would LEAST strengthen the argument above?
The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory.-Strengthen
People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population.-Strengthen
Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average.-Out of scope
Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.-Out of scope
Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.--Correct
Anyone shed light on it................
Rgds
Prasannajeet
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 04:41
Actually, the option that is out of scope is in fact the correct answer.. It is a tough call between D & E. However, I will go with D... Will explain if correct...
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 04:48
Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-informed scientists, photographic memory is a myth. Most of the top competitors at this summer’s national memory championship have brains that are neurologically indistinguishable from those of the general population and cognitive abilities that are seldom more than a standard deviation above average.
Premise 1: Photographic memory is supposed by media and ill-informed some scientists
Premise 2: The particpants of a top notch competition have same brain structure as of general population.
Premise 2: The particpants of a top notch competition have cognitive abilities comparable with that of general population.
Conclusion : photographic memory is a mythWhich of the following would LEAST strengthen the argument above? The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory. Strengthens - This option eliminates the possibility that the psychologist was using a wrong sample.People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population. Strengthens - This option validates the truth of Premise 2.Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average. Strengthens - This option validates the truth of Premise 3.Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited. Strengthens Slightly- This option eliminates the possibility of prejudice for the adjective "ill-informed" in Premise 1.Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition. Doesn't Help the argument.is it E ?
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 05:32
Posted OA.
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 07:15
Hi
really excellent question.
Conclusion:Photographic memory is just a myth.
Premise: Top competitors at the competition have qualities comparable to the normal public.
Two characteristics of top competitors are presented.
Prethinking Assumption: The top competitors of the national competition are considered representative of excellent memory or If the photographic memory would have existed, than it would have been a criteria for qualifying in the competition (I mean if photographic memory existed , than for sure top competitors would have the foresaid quality).
Think of a kid who justifies his lower score by comparing his score to the the scores of toppers in his class. The argument is on similar lines.
Moreover, The stem asks which of the option Least Strengthen, ie the correct must also strengthen the argument.
B and C cannot strenghten the argument, hence can be rejected at first glance (They just repeat the characterstics, which is stated in the argumnet....not bringing new idea, hence cannot strengthen)
A is the most lucid assumption.....hence it strengthens, E also mentions one of the assumption, hence must strengthen.
D strengthens but least among all 3 correct options. It just states the scientist who proposed the photographic memory is widely discredited.
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 18:39
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There is one problem with the question. The question asks for a choice that least strengthens the argument. So one would expect that all the choices strengthen the argument though to varying extents. But we have, for example, choice B which actually weakens the argument. I agree though that D is the best choice among those that strengthen the argument.
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 19:11
A tricky one but not so tricky. Narrowed the options between B and D. B weaken the argumen the argument But we want something that strengthen the argument but not so much, or at least is neutral. D is really good as answer 
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 22:34
SravnaTestPrep wrote: There is one problem with the question. The question asks for a choice that least strengthens the argument. So one would expect that all the choices strengthen the argument though to varying extents. But we have, for example, choice B which actually weakens the argument.
I agree though that D is the best choice among those that strengthen the argument. But how does B weaken the argument? The psychologist concludes that photographic memory is a myth based on the fact that the competitors have brains which are not different from regular people. But who is to say that people with photographic memory should have brains that are different from regular people. Their brains might look the same and yet they might still have photographic memory. Choice B addresses to this point and hence strengthens the argument. Thoughts?
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
02 Feb 2013, 23:37
MacFauz wrote: SravnaTestPrep wrote: There is one problem with the question. The question asks for a choice that least strengthens the argument. So one would expect that all the choices strengthen the argument though to varying extents. But we have, for example, choice B which actually weakens the argument.
I agree though that D is the best choice among those that strengthen the argument. But how does B weaken the argument? The psychologist concludes that photographic memory is a myth based on the fact that the competitors have brains which are not different from regular people. But who is to say that people with photographic memory should have brains that are different from regular people. Their brains might look the same and yet they might still have photographic memory. Choice B addresses to this point and hence strengthens the argument. Thoughts? Dear MacFauz, There are actually two premises. 1) people with photographic memory have brains that are different from normal people. 2) Those who contest the memory competition do not have brains that are different from normal people. Conclusion: Photographic memory is a myth. You cannot reach this conclusion if it were true that people with photographic memory indeed have brains that are different from normal people. This would weaken the assumption of the second premise that those who contest the memory competition possess photographic memory and hence weaken the argument
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
03 Feb 2013, 00:07
SravnaTestPrep wrote: MacFauz wrote: SravnaTestPrep wrote: There is one problem with the question. The question asks for a choice that least strengthens the argument. So one would expect that all the choices strengthen the argument though to varying extents. But we have, for example, choice B which actually weakens the argument.
I agree though that D is the best choice among those that strengthen the argument. But how does B weaken the argument? The psychologist concludes that photographic memory is a myth based on the fact that the competitors have brains which are not different from regular people. But who is to say that people with photographic memory should have brains that are different from regular people. Their brains might look the same and yet they might still have photographic memory. Choice B addresses to this point and hence strengthens the argument. Thoughts? Dear MacFauz, There are actually two premises. 1) people with photographic memory have brains that are different from normal people. 2) Those who contest the memory competition do not have brains that are different from normal people. Conclusion: Photographic memory is a myth. You cannot reach this conclusion if it were true that people with photographic memory indeed have brains that are different from normal people. This would weaken the assumption of the second premise that those who contest the memory competition possess photographic memory and hence weaken the argument But is not "people with photographic memory have brains that are different from normal people" an assumption?.. The argument itself does not say this.. If people with photographic memory WOULD HAVE had brains that are different from normal people then the author's conclusion is justified.. Since the competitors have brains no different from the average person, they do NOT possess photographic memory.. What do you feel?
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
03 Feb 2013, 00:19
Dear MacFauz, If Choice B which is, "People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population", were true it would undermine the authors's assumption. The assumption is people who contest the memory competition have photographic memory. The truth of choice B would make this assumption invalid.
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
03 Feb 2013, 08:57
I chose C, and still I don't agree with the OA...
C) Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average.
This weakens the argument of the psychologist. Indeed, if photographic memories requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average then the cognitive abilities of the top competitors at this summer’s national memory championship could have been simply not high enough to prove the photographic memory thing and so the argument of the psychologist is weakened.
On the other side answer D strengthens the main argument of the psychologist (which is that photographic memory does not exist) even though it is not relevant to his proof.
Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory [#permalink]
03 Feb 2013, 09:37
Hi Darmody, I think your struggling because you've not totally grasped the question. As the other guys have said, it asks for 'least strngthen' - this does not mean 'weaken'. So in other words, we want something that strengthens the argument a little bit. NOT something that weakens... Cheers, James
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Re: Tricky CR (Challenge for experts): Photographic memory
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03 Feb 2013, 09:37
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