The term “episodic memory” was
introduced by Tulving to refer to what he
considered a uniquely human capacity—
Line the ability to recollect specific past events,
(5) to travel back into the past in one’s own
mind—as distinct from the capacity simply
to use information acquired through past
experiences. Subsequently, Clayton et al.
developed criteria to test for episodic
(10) memory in animals. According to these
criteria, episodic memories are not of
individual bits of information; they involve
multiple components of a single event
“bound” together. Clayton sought to
(15) examine evidence of scrub jays’ accurate
memory of “what,”“where,” and “when”
information and their binding of this information.
In the wild, these birds store food
for retrieval later during periods of food
(20) scarcity. Clayton’s experiment required
jays to remember the type, location, and
freshness of stored food based on a unique
learning event. Crickets were stored in one
location and peanuts in another. Jays
(25) prefer crickets, but crickets degrade
more quickly. Clayton’s birds switched
their preference from crickets to peanuts
17
once the food had been stored for a certain
length of time, showing that they retain
(30) information about the what, the where,
and the when. Such experiments cannot,
however, reveal whether the birds were
reexperiencing the past when retrieving the
information. Clayton acknowledged this by
using the term “episodic-like” memory.
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Q8:
The primary purpose of the passage is to
A. explain how the findings of a particular experiment have been interpreted and
offer an alternative interpretation
B. describe a particular experiment and point out one of its limitations
C. present similarities between human memory and animal memory
D. point out a flaw in the argument that a certain capacity is uniquely human
E. account for the unexpected behavior of animal subjects in a particular experiment

B

(A theory and argument is mentioned, a test experiment is performed to validate the theory, and the test does not give any evidence)

The primary purpose of the passage is to
A. explain how the findings of a particular experiment have been interpreted and
offer an alternative interpretation
(there is no alternative interpretation of the experiment)
B. describe a particular experiment and point out one of its limitations
(fits with my overall understanding of the passage as stated above)
C. present similarities between human memory and animal memory
(out of scope)
D. point out a flaw in the argument that a certain capacity is uniquely human
(It is never concluded that there is a flaw in the argument, its just that evidence was not found)
E. account for the unexpected behavior of animal subjects in a particular experiment
(this is just the last para of the essay, not the primary purpose)

Why not D?

1. The term "episodic memory " is coined to be uniquely human by Tulving.
2. Clayton tries to test it in animals.
3. Experiment follows.
4. Clayton says experiments cannot reveal whether the birds were re-experiencing the past when retrieving the
information. However, he still acknowledged this characteristic in birds as episodic memory.

rpmodi - Do you have the OA for this question?