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805+ (Hard)|   Strengthen|      
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Engineer1
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Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-inform 12 Dec 2023, 20:32
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KarishmaB
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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?


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

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

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

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

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


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)
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Thanks KarishmaB. Informative as always.
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Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-inform 17 Feb 2024, 11:23
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The argument is that photographic memory is a myth. With C, it can be quantified, so not a myth anymore.

Also you cannot assume all the best memory ever people are in that competition, because some people may not want to attend or they might have died.

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Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-inform 25 May 2024, 13:13
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KarishmaB

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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?


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

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

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

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

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

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)
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Thanks for breaking that down.
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Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-inform 26 Mar 2026, 10:20
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Hi MartyMurray, can you please help me with the last option here?

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

If that was a case, then in competition everyone was of photographic memory. But what should I make out of it? It's not established that they are not, maybe looking into a brain is not a right way to check it. E is more like a neutral, I cant infer anything.
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Psychologist: Though popularized by the media and even some ill-inform 27 Mar 2026, 05:26
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Hi gullyboy09, let me try to help, since it was too complicated, and I also took some time to understand.

The conclusion was that PM is a myth, and all the rest of the statements given in the argument supporting to arrive at this conclusion.

Let's check why Option can be a strengthener.

E. Photographic memory, if it exists, would be a requirement even to qualify for a national memory competition. - It says that if PM exist then having a PM would be the criterion to participate in the competition. Since it doesn't exist, that's why. Most of the participants have similar neurological, brain, and cognitive abilities that are minutely above the average, so it kind of makes us believe that PM is a myth.

Hope this helps !
gullyboy09
Hi MartyMurray, can you please help me with the last option here?

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

If that was a case, then in competition everyone was of photographic memory. But what should I make out of it? It's not established that they are not, maybe looking into a brain is not a right way to check it. E is more like a neutral, I cant infer anything.
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