Psychology professor: Considering the novelty and richness

Psychology professor: Considering the novelty and richness of the first several years of life, it is perhaps surprising that adults have so few early childhood recollections. Only from the age of 5 or 6 do most people begin to accumulate reasonably clear and explicit memories, mainly because that is when we go to school and begin to develop an organized structure for our lives, a structure that allows us to better encode episodes for later retrieval.

Though the professor's conclusion is not marked with a conclusion marker, we see that the professor has used the word "because" to present a cause-effect conclusion. That conclusion is basically the following:

Going to school and developing an organized structure for their lives causes people to begin to accumulate reasonably clear and explicit memories at age 5 or 6.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the explanation the professor proposes?

To answer this question correctly, we must find a choice that casts doubt on the professor's conclusion.

(A) Adults who regularly attended preschool classes before the age of 5 do not have significantly more memories from that period of their lives than adults who did not regularly attend preschool classes.

The professor's explanation is basically that the reason people don't have clear memories of events they experienced before age 5 or 6 is that they weren't going to school. In other words, the professor's conclusion is that going to school is the cause of clear recollections.

So, this choice undermines the professor's explanation by showing that, even when people go to school before age 5, they don't have clear memories of events they experienced before that age.

In other words, this choice shows that there are situations in which the cause, school, is present, but the effect, clear recollections, is not present.

Thus, this choice shows that going to school may not be the cause of clear recollections beginning at age 5 or 6 because when school is present before age 5, it doesn't cause clear recollection, giving us reason to believe that something other than going to school is the cause of clear recollection beginning at age 5 or 6.

Keep.

(B) Adults who as children regularly watched educational television programs have significantly more early childhood memories than adults who did not regularly watch educational television.

This choice may seem to bring up an alternative cause for children beginning to remember, watching educational television programs. However, this choice doesn't really change the scenario. It just adds another dimension to it.

We still have the fact that adults "have so few early childhood recollections" and the explanation that developing an organized structure for their lives causes people to begin to accumulate reasonably clear and explicit memories at age 5 or 6.

The fact that watching educational television causes people to have more early childhood memories doesn't undermine that explanation for people's beginning to remember things clearly at a particular age.

Eliminate.

(C) In a recent study, 95 percent of the participants questioned were able to recall an incident that occurred prior to school age.

Notice that the passage has stated as fact the following:

it is perhaps surprising that adults have so few early childhood recollections. Only from the age of 5 or 6 do most people begin to accumulate reasonably clear and explicit memories

This choice may seem to contradict that fact, but actually, what the passage says could still be true even if most people can "recall an incident that occurred prior to school age." After all, recalling one incident is not in conflict with having "few early childhood recollections."

Also, the professor is seeking to explain why "adults have so few early childhood recollections," and the fact that people generally remember an incident that occurred prior to when they were of school age does not cast doubt on the professor's explanation for that fact.

Eliminate.

(D) In a recent study, 80 percent of the participants questioned were unable to give details of a single verifiable incident from their first year of formal schooling.

This choice doesn't really change what we know. Regardless of what this choice says, it's still the case that people's clear recollections of their lives begin around when they start going to school. They may not be able to give details of incidents from their first year of schooling, but they "begin to accumulate reasonably clear and explicit memories" at that age.

Eliminate.

(E) Studies show that the earlier children learn to read, the better able they are to recall childhood incidents.

This choice doesn't conflict with the professor's explanation. After all, while this choice may be true, it's still true that most people's relatively clear memories begin around when they start going to school.

Sure, learning to read can have an effect on how well people recall childhood incidents, but that fact doesn't mean that the structure of going to school isn't what causes people to begin remembering what they experience.

We could get the impression that this choice presents learning to read as an alternative cause of people's beginning to recollect what they have experienced, but notice that this choice is not about learning to read causing people to begin to recollect events. It's about learning to read causing people to recollect better. So, this choice indicates that learning to read is the cause of something different, remembering better, from what going to school causes, beginning to remember.

Eliminate.

Correct Answer