| Critical Reasoning Butler: January 2025 |
| January 6 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 The NCM Party’s electoral strategy previously consisted of multiple expensive campaigns, tailored to each electoral district. In the upcoming state elections, the NCM Party will employ a more cost-efficient approach, utilizing a common campaign for all districts in the state. Party officials are confident that this approach will allow the party to reduce campaign expenditure without reducing its share of votes.
Which of the following, if true, signifies a shortcoming in the officials’ plan to reduce campaign expenditure while maintaining vote-share?
A. Many political parties smaller than the NCM Party have increased their vote-share by using statewide campaigns.
B. District-level electoral campaigns often make use of hoarding in local markets.
C. In the last two state elections, 12 percent of the NCM Party’s votes came from people living below the poverty level.
D. Many voters select candidates entirely on the basis of policy, having no loyalty to one party or the other.
E. Addressing concerns at the district level is a critical factor in securing votes in a state election.
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CR 2 The Eureka effect is a psychological term that refers to the sudden comprehension of previously incomprehensible problems or concepts; this effect is considered highly beneficial in fields that require great creativity in problem solving, such as higher-level mathematics, but it is also incredibly nebulous and almost impossible to induce. Is there any method that could detect a nascent Eureka effect, allowing an individual to take steps to bring it to fruition? Such a method could be developed by monitoring brain activity; researchers scanned the brains of mathematicians working on novel math problems and found that a few minutes before the mathematicians experienced a breakthrough, they experienced heightened activity in region A of their brains. The researchers concluded that monitoring region A could allow one to predict an incoming Eureka effect.
Which of the following, if true, most supports the researchers' conclusion?
A. Other research found that whenever significant activity occurs in region A, it is almost always with creative problem solving, soon before the Eureka effect occurs.
B. Sometimes, once the Eureka effect took place, activity in those regions of the brain associated with cognitive effort increased.
C. The cognitive effort required for creative problem solving diminishes significantly, as one gains more experience working on that particular type of problem.
D. The increased activity in region A began at least a minute before the Eureka effect occurred.
E. Increased activity in region A was accompanied by decreased activity in regions that become active during artistic imagination.