| Critical Reasoning Butler: August 2026 |
| August 21 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 By conducting surveys and monitoring the brainwave patterns of a group of employees who work from 9 am until 5 pm daily in a variety of fields, scientists determined that after the midday break, energy levels dropped although average decreases in activity only measured at 1%. To deal with this phenomenon in an efficient way, many companies began to provide sleeping facilities for sleepy workers who could rest for short periods of time and then return to work refreshed. Although this strategy revealed that a nap of only 25 minutes did seem to be effective at restoring energy and attentiveness, since the actual decrease in measured activity is fairly minor, a number of companies now intend to do away with this technique.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the logic of the companies' current intentions?
(A) The employees whose brainwave scans indicated an activity decrease of more than 1% after midday were also those who reported that the meals they ate during their breaks sometimes consisted of a meat item.
(B) Brain activity tests of employees who had not napped but who had performed the same number of tasks as those who had, showed these employees made logical connections that were primarily involved in the creation of basic and, in many cases, nonviable solutions.
(C) Through advancements in technology, current brainwave monitors have the potential to measure frequency differences that are very small whereas in the past only major changes in activity were detectable by researchers.
(D) Brainwaves measured before an hour of sleep has been completed are far more similar to those emitted while in an awakened state than to those emitted during sleep associated with significant rest.
(E) Employees who are presented with the option of sleeping at their places of employment are likely to take less heed in being responsible for the amount of sleep they get before arriving to perform a day's work.
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CR 2 Unlike in the vast majority of species of monkeys, in a newly discovered society of minuscule monkeys in South Africa the dominant male is not the largest specimen, but rather the one with the strongest odor, even if it is quite unimpressive looking.
Which of the following, if true, would most contribute to an explanation of the facts above?
A. The new type of monkey is deaf.
B. Odor plays a role in the ability to determine ovulation among many mammals.
C. The new species of monkey is visually impaired, and thus relies on its sense of smell.
D. In most monkey communities the largest and strongest males are the alpha males and they mate with the mature females of the community.
E. Monkeys have a wide variety of parameters which together establish order of precedence among the males of a community.