Some people claim to experience a bitter taste whenever they

Question

Some people claim to experience a bitter taste whenever they touch a certain texture; others claim to see 5s as red even when the numbers are printed in black ink. These are forms of synesthesia, a condition many scientists have long considered fakery. To determine whether an effect is faked or truly perceptual, psychologists often use a test called pop-out. If someone looks at a set of tilted lines scattered amid vertical ones, the tilted lines pop out. Similarly, if most of a background’s elements are green dots, and someone is told to look for red targets, the red pops out. On the other hand, a set of black 2s scattered among black 5s almost blends in.

Recently, researchers used a pop-out test to determine whether synesthesia is truly perceptual. Subjects claiming to experience red whenever they see a black 5 and green with every black 2 were given the following test. Several black 2s were arranged to form a triangle among a field of black 5s. In cases where the synesthesia is genuinely perceptual, subjects should easily see the triangle, because for them the numbers would have different colors. The synesthetes, unlike nonsynesthetes, correctly identified the triangular shape 90 percent of the time (just as nonsynesthetes do when the numbers actually have different colors). This suggests that the induced colors are genuinely perceptual.   1 
 C 
Based on the passage, on which of the following pop-out tests would synesthetes of the type mentioned in the second paragraph be most likely to perform better, on average, than people without synesthesia?

(A) Subjects are shown a set of red 5s in the shape of a triangle among a field of green 2s and asked to identify the shape the 5s form.

(B) Subjects are shown a set of black 5s in the shape of a rectangle among a field of red 2s and asked to identify the shape the 5s form.

(C) Subjects are shown a set of black 5s randomly scattered among a field of black 2s and asked to identify as many 5s as they can in ten seconds.

(D) Subjects are shown a set of black 5s in the shape of a triangle among a set of black vertical lines and asked to identify the shape the 5s make.

(E) Subjects are shown a set of red targets randomly scattered among a field of green dots and asked to find as many red targets as they can in ten seconds.

anshunadir · Answer

IMO C.
Paragraph 2 talks about synesthetes who see black 5s as red 5s and black 2s as green 2s.

Option C talks about similar settings:

BTW what's the OA.

Jp27 · Answer

this has to be C.
Question says "Based on the passage, on which of the following pop-out tests would  synesthetes  of the type mentioned in the second 
paragraph be most likely  to perform better, on average, than people without synesthesia?"

C 1/Test given in 2 para is parallel to option C
D would be performed well by people without synesthesia also, as black 5s and vertical lines are easily distinguishable.

gmatbull · Answer

OA is  C ....
par2 talks about the ease with which synethetes identify triangular black 2's among a field of black 5's.
Option C, however, talks about random black 5's among a field of black 2's. Since the synethetes are more
perceptual in differentiating these colors, they would be better in the arrangement in C...

What's your line of reasoning?

sahilchaudhary · Answer

I got it right, but it took me around 7 minutes to get the answer.
The correct answer is C.

Reasoning:

As per the passage "Several black 2s were arranged to form a triangle among a field of black 5s. In cases where the synesthesia is genuinely perceptual, subjectsshould easily see the triangle."
Only option C talks about the number of 5s, rest all the options talk about the shape of 5s.

daboo343 · Answer

C seems to be the answer.
 And one can find answer by reading these lines" Recently, researchers used a pop-out test to determine whether synesthesia is truly perceptual. Subjects claiming to experience red whenever they see a black 5 and green with every black 2 were given the following test. Several black 2s were arranged to form a triangle among a field of black 5s".

hovhannesmkrtchyan · Answer

I will try to explain my line of reasoning. C is correct because in the passage it is mentioned that synethetes see black 5s as red and black 2s as green. Also, in the beginning of the passage it is stated that when you have a number of green objects and red objects, if scientists ask you to find red ones, red items will pop out, meaning that you will not pay attention to green ones and will be more efficient in counting them. So, if we combine the two statements, synethetes should do better at these tests because they see black 5s and 2s as distinct colors, and hence can count them much faster as opposed to a regular person, who cannot count them efficiently because all he sees is black 2s and 5s, which "blend in".

With this logic, it will be apparent that other choices are wrong in some way. Just keep those above mentioned pieces of information in mind and analyze them.

Some people claim to experience a bitter taste whenever they

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Some people claim to experience a bitter taste whenever they

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