Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-inform

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.

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

In my opinion , E is better than D. I am not sure how does E strengthen the conclusion.
Having hard time grasping the answer. How does E strengthen the argument "photographic memory is a myth" ?
D , to an extent strengthens , since scientists theories of mind have been discredited .
Appreciate if any of the veritas experts can help on this.

-Jyothi

Choice E strengthens because if photographic memory is not a requirement to qualify for the championship then the top competitors in the competition may not really possess photographic memory and the author cannot arrive at the conclusion that he does. So it is more relevant to the author's argument than choice D which really has little relevance to the logic of the author.

PREMISE. 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.

COUNTER PREMISE. Psychologist: photographic memory has been popularized by the media and even some ill-informed scientists.

CONCLUSION. Photographic memory is a myth.

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.STRENGTHENER...AS it proves that those participating are neurologically indistinguishable people
People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general populationSTRENGTHENER ....that is what the conclusion says.
Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average....but here we have competitors who have cognitive abilities that are seldom more than a standard deviation above average...hence nothing like photographic memory....strengthener..
Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.....hold...this is no logic to discredit him after all he is a scientist.....
Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition...but it is not so hence it doesnt exist ...strengthener
Source: Veri Prep

IMO "D"

(A) strengthens the argument by creating a greater connection between those who are participating in the competition and people who would have photographic memory (if it existed)

(B) strengthens the argument by strengthening the premise that the fact that these competitors are neurologically indistinguishable from the general population means that there is no photographic memory

(C) This one strengthens the final premise that the fact that these competitors have abilities that are seldom more than a SD above average means that there is no photographic memory

(D) seems appealing, but really it says nothing about the argument. just because his other theories have been discredited doesn't mean that this one has. Furthermore, just because he initially proposed it doesn't mean there weren't many other scientists who have since proved it.

(E) e also strengthens the argument, because it creates a greater connection between these competitors and people with photographic memory.

E for me.

We need to find out the option that Least strengthens/Weakens/ is Irrelevant to the argument. In other words, four out of five choices will strengthen the argument, we need to spot the one that doesn't.
Key: Find out assumptions, those will be strengtheners and hence will be wrong.

A. The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory.
This is a strengthener that, if true, says that the Psychologist has chosen the right set (sample) of people to come to the conclusion. - Incorrect

B. People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population.
This is an assumption that is required for the Psychologist's claim to be correct. The Psychologist claims on the basis of the two attributes of the competitors' brains - neurologically indistinguishable from others and cognitive abilities. This is attribute#1.
Incorrect

C. Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average.
Like B, this is an assumption too. Here is the attribute#2-cognitive abilities.
Incorrect

D. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.
This gives me one more reason to believe that the Psychologist is probably correct. Photographic memory could actually be a myth. Good strengthener.
Incorrect

E. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.
At last, here's something that weakens the argument. This attacks the basis of Psychologist's conclusion. If all those who enter the competition have Photographic memories, and even then have Attribute#1 and Attribute#2 as describes by the Psychologist. His finding is flawed.

Please correct me if im wrong.

Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and others, 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?

A. The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory.
(so whatever applies to normal public applies to competitors at championship here. Assumption acts as a strengthener.)

B. People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population.
(Assumption from 1st of the 2 above mentioned competitor qualities)

C. Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average.
(Assumption from 2nd of the 2 above mentioned competitor qualities)

D. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.
Who proposed it does not affect the conclusion much.

E. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.
(Assumption from correlation between general theory and example mentioned above regarding competition.)

I dunno.. i couple of weeks to go before the big day and my reasoning has gone for a toss
It was always between D and E and i chose E. And im still not convinced- How can it be D!

2 reasons for D to be a strengthener-
D. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.
Scientist X, lets say, went crazy at some point in his life and then was the same since then, all the theories (including this one) he proposed from then onward have been discredited.

D. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.
Scientist X, lets say, dived into the field of 'mind' and was not actually eligible to, most of his 'theories of mind' (including this one) have been discredited.

Any degree of strengthening is enough for an option to be a strengthener. This, i thought was more than enough.

My reasoning behind E
E. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.
IF Photographic memory exists and is a requirement to qualify for memory competition AND the brains of the participants are neurologically indistinguishable from those of the general population and the cognitive abilities are mostly same,
THEN there has to be some other reason for their Photographic memory which is overlooked by the Psychologist.

This reason questions his finding and his claim. Am i overthinking here??

Can someone point where i went wrong and help me fix my reasoning??

-Thanks

The scientist theories which came out after he proposed the photographic theory have been widely discredited.
But the current theory need not wrong because of the same.

This statement tells that since most of the scientists theories which came later are not approved even this one can be wrong. But this need not be true.

same extreme case. Almost every scientist in this world is famous for some theories and discredited for some, that fact cannot be an evidence to disapprove his remaining theories or his thinking level.

sorry but yes.

In the argument, there are two things
1. Psychologist statement that says photographic memory is a myth.
2. evidence supporting the above statement taking top competitors at this summer’s national memory championship as a sample.

Assumption: Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.
if this is negated then the conclusion falls apart.
as if Photographic memory not required then the conclusion does not make sense.

Assumption also works as strengthener sometimes. and option E is an Assumption from correlation between general theory and example mentioned above regarding competition.

D is the correct answer since A, B, C and E are wrong.
Remember we are dealing with LEAST or EXCEPTION category of CR questions here.
I hope this helps.

For a weakening (or strengthening) statement a must be true condition need not be satisfied. The examples you have mentioned may indicate that D is not a weakener, but if a person's work is not credited, then there are chances that his works are not creditworthy. This kind of reasoning is good enough to qualify an option to be a strengthening or weakening.

Option E: The conclusion is that the photographic memory is a myth. Option E states "Photographic memory, if it exists...", but it does not provide any argument in favor that such memory exists. Thus option E is a neutral statement - it neither strengthens, nor weakens.

The question asks you to identify the least strengthening statement - in that list D comes first, then comes E. So D is the correct answer.

I am unable to understand how option B even slightly strengthens the conclusion.
My reasoning:
Option B states that people with PM would have brains that are neurologically different from those of the general population.
However, in order to support his view that PM is a myth, the psychologist quotes the example of most top competitors' having brains that are NOT neurologically different from those of the general population.

In essence, if characteristic A is required to be classified as belonging to type B, how can you say that it is not possible to be type B by sampling people who DO NOT possess characteristic A?

Media / ill-informed scientists. PM is true
Author: PM is myth.

Author's argument:
Premise: No difference in neurological feature.
Conclusion: PM is myth.

Assumption: There must be distinguishable neurological feature in people with PM (but there is none).

So Option B is an assumption ( and thus a strengthening statement that conclusively proves that the author's argument is valid).

Argument - Conclusion - Photographic memory (PM) is a myth.
Why so - Brains of the competitors is neurologically similar to those of the general population + their cognitive abilities are higher by a minuscule amount than those of average population.

General strengtheners - The two factors truly can determine the degree of photographic memory / Competitors are the ones that supposedly posses photographic memory.


A. The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory.
- If the populace does represent population with photographic memory --> then comparing their brains with the those of general populace is valid --> the reports can be true --> strengthens

B. People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population.
- To make a suggestion that the claim of photographic memory is fraud based on the fact that the brains are neurologically indistinguishable, the brains need to be different. If the brains are similar the comparison does not hold ground --> hence this strengthens

C. Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average.
- Similar to option B, in case photographic memory does not require abilities more than a standard average then comparing the abilities makes no sense --> strengthens

D. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.
- The initial proposition was wrong --> May be the claims of factors determining the photographic memory were wrong OR claims of the degree to which data can be stored by the people with photographic memory were wrong --> we do not know.
- In addition to that, there were numerous theories after the initial proposition that have supported the claim of photographic memory.
- So simply because one of the thousand theories supporting this claim was proven to be wrong --> does not mean the theory itself is wrong
- Though this choice may strengthen the conclusion to certain extent, the choice does have considerable flaws
- Definitely a weaker strengthener
- Correct

E. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.
- This option suggests that the students who qualified for the competition do possess the ability of photographic memory. Since, if the students did not have the ability they would not qualify the tournament.
- This option is simply option A rephrased in a complicated fashion

Just because the scientist who proposed the idea has had his theories discredited does not foreclose the possibility that someone else came along and modified the thesis regarding photographic memory.

Following the logic of the argument, the author is using this memory competition as the premise for the conclusion that photographic memory doesn’t exist.

After all (so says the author) if the best “memory minds” are at this competition and the brains are neurologically similar to the general population, then this shows that photographic memory is a lie.

In order to use the samples at this competition in the argument, the brains of these people have to represent what are thought to be those with photographic memories. Just because someone has a good memory and managed to make into this competition does NOT necessarily mean the person has a photographic memory. This is the flaw in the author’s reasoning.

By filing this gap and saying that in order to qualify for this competition, the people must have a photographic memory (IF it exists), the author has more of a basis to use the neurological information about these people. They are now a representative sample of people who SHOULD have a photographic memory (based on the current belief of what a photograph memory is), yet their brains are very similar to those of the general population.

In this way, answer E strengthens the author’s logic, reasoning, and argument.

Bringing forth evidence about the scientist who INITIALLY proposed the theory of photographic memories does very little to strengthen the author’s line of reasoning in the argument.

Answer D does the least to strengthen the argument.

Good question.

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MartyMurray KarishmaB GMATGuruNY GMATNinjaTwo GMATNinja

Could you please explain the entire question and the answers? I do not understand why D is correct. Thank you.

Here is how I did it and got it wrong.

Least Strengthen - The correct choice does not necessarily weaken the conclusion / argument. Maybe the correct choice does not do anything at all to the argument / conclusion. Is this what the question stem is asking for?

Premise - Most of the top competitors at this summer’s national memory championship have brains that are more or less similar to those of the general population. Competitors' cognitive abilities are rarely above average standard deviation. So, basically competitors brans are neurologically not really "different" from those of general population.
Conclusion - So, competitors' memory cannot be defined differently (photographic memory). Photographic memory is a myth / does not exist.

Though process from here - Strengthen answer choices would introduce an additional reasoning - may be the way competitors did better practice to be eligible for the competition, and did not get to compete because of their "memory" capacity etc.

A. The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory.

They were already thought to have "photographic memory". In this case, the premise in the argument proves that their brains are not different from those of general population. Hence, strengthens photographic memory is a myth. - Not exactly what my thought as an answer option, but this makes sense.

B. People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population.

This does not really prove that photographic memory is a myth. If still provides support because if photographic memory were to exist, people with that memory will have neurologically distinguishable brain. This is not the case in the argument.

C. Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average.

Definitely strengthens the argument.

D. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.

I thought this also strengthens. If the proposal was discredited, this provides support to the fact that photographic memory indeed is a myth.

E. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition

OK, it probably was not a requirement to qualify for the competition to start with. I think this it does not do anything to the argument. Hence, the correct answer.

Premises:
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.

Conclusion: photographic memory is a myth

Note that premises do not even mention the term photographic memory. The conclusion is assuming many things here:
That participants of summer’s national memory championship are very likely to have a photographic memory if such a thing exists. That someone who has a photographic memory has a brain that is neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population. Such a person's brain would have cognitive abilities that are more than a standard deviation above average.

A. The competitors at this summer’s championship are typical of the segment of the population thought to have photographic memory.

Strengthens. The competitors are typical of the segment of population thought to have photographic memory. The point is, if they don't have photographic memories, who does? They are the ones who have the best memory (supposedly) so if there were a concept of photographic memory, they would have it.

B. People with photographic memories would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population.

Strengthens. It says that they would have brains that are neurologically distinguishable from those of the general population. But since the competitors do not have distinguishable brains, the competitors do not have photographic memories. Then, we circle back to the point - if they don't have photographic memories, who does?

C. Photographic memory requires cognitive abilities more than a standard deviation above average.

Strengthens. Same logic as (B)

D. Photographic memory was initially proposed by a scientist whose theories of mind have since been widely discredited.

His theories have been discredited doesn't mean that they have been proven wrong. A theory is a hypothesis and people may not believe it but that doesn't mean that the theory is certainly false. Was there any definite proof that Photographic memory doesn't exist, we cannot say - most likely not because then this matter would have been put to rest. Also, "initially proposed" seems to imply that others also came up with the hypothesis later on. All in all, the origin story of the term photographic memory doesn't provide much strength to the conclusion. We have to evaluate the term, not the one who gave us the term.
So this LEAST strengthens our conclusion.

E. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition.

Strengthens. This says that if photographic memory exists, it would be necessary to even reach the national memory competition. This is a fact given to you. That is, the competition picks the best of the best so if some people did have photographic memories, the competitors of this competition would be those people.

Answer (D)