Q11 - Sometimes when their trainer gives

[netkorea06]

I might be missing the point of this passage. I am not sure why (b) is the answer and (e) is not. Thanks.

[giladedelman]

Thanks for posting! This is kind of a funky one.

If you're having trouble seeing the point of an argument, remember that we always should start by trying to identify the conclusion. Here it's that the dolphins' responses are not merely learned responses to stimuli, but rather examples of higher cognitive functions. The premise, or evidence, supporting that conclusion is that the dolphins exhibit two different responses to the same hand signal.

What could strengthen this argument? In other words, what's an assumption that needs to be made? Well, it seems to be assuming that the dolphins' responses to the hand signals are creative and spontaneous, and that the dolphins weren't simply taught two specific responses to a particular stimulus.

(B) expresses that assumption. If the dolphins exhibit complex new responses to the hand signal, then their responses are not merely learned reactions to a stimulus.

(A) doesn't get us anywhere. Okay, mammals resemble each other, but what about the dolphins' response?

(C) is also out of scope. Whether the dolphins are given treats has nothing to do with whether they're displaying higher cognitive functions.

(D), ditto. What about their responses?

(E) is somewhat tempting, I'll agree, but ultimately the argument has nothing to do with whether theses behaviors are shown in the dolphins' natural habitat. That still doesn't get to the issue of whether they're simple learned responses or higher brain functions.

Does that clear this one up for you at all?

[ericha3535]

As the above posts indicate, the last sentence is the conclusion, that the dolphins do tricks because of their higher cognitive ability not because of the learned responses.

The logic gap that needs to be filled in is: the author hasn't really demonstrated fact that which is the actual "cause" that allow those dolphins to perform tricks. Exclusivity Fallacy was committed.

I quickly eliminated
C, D and E.
C: doesn't say anything about higher cogn vs. learn stimulus.
D: Thanks for the good info but so what?
E: I thought it actually weakens the argument. If those tricks are performed in the natural habitat without "user of language and forethought," then those behavior are just their natural talents (which is ultimately offering an alternative cause)

Now, I chose A because I thought the "given stimulus" was the hand signal.
So I thought the stimulus was actually saying that the reason that the dolphins were able to perform those behaviors is because of their "higher level of thinking" not because of "hand signal."
So... I thought B would actually weaken the argument because that's like conceding with the competing reason.
What am I missing?

Thanks!

[WaltGrace1983]

Now, I chose A because I thought the "given stimulus" was the hand signal.
So I thought the stimulus was actually saying that the reason that the dolphins were able to perform those behaviors is because of their "higher level of thinking" not because of "hand signal."
So... I thought B would actually weaken the argument because that's like conceding with the competing reason.
What am I missing?

Thanks!

A Manhattan guru can correct me if I am wrong but the given stimulus, I do believe, is the hand signal. I'll go through my interpretation of the argument and I'd love it if someone could tell me what he or she thinks.

Dolphins have two different responses to the same hand signal that tells them to do something creative
→
Dolphins are capable of higher cognitive function

What is this argument saying? It is saying that we have these two dolphins and we have this one hand signal that means one thing - "do something creative." The dolphins do two different things to the hand signal and THUS the author is concluding that there must be something going on here; it must be the case that the dolphins have some higher function and that they are actively thinking something like, "our trainer wants us to do something creative! Let's do something different this time! Let's do act XYZ."

The assumption is that these dolphins are actually thinking through these complex actions and not just responding to what they have been taught. How can we strengthen the argument? We can give evidence that there is some thought process going on. Maybe one dolphin makes a certain noise to the other dolphin and they proceed to do a certain trick. Maybe it just so happens that when the trainer says "I hope they do act Y then they always do act Y." There could be a lot of things and we should focus on elimination rather than choosing the correct answer.

(A) Resemblance? That's cool but how do we know how this relates to having some cognitive function. Body structure is completely irrelevant to the discussion and brain structure, while a little bit better, doesn't really connect to "cognitive function" so easily. This one - to me - is the quickest elimination of them all.

(B) This one seems okay, certainly better than (A). It shows the dolphins performing complex responses. it shows that these responses are new. All this stuff is good for thinking about "cognitive function" but it doesn't help all that much. The same question still remains: why do they do these tricks? Do they even know what they are doing? I wouldn't eliminate this one but I am, admittedly, a bit skeptical.

(C) This seems like a weakener. If they are given food every time they do a trick, maybe there is no higher thought at all. Maybe they just really want food and this would be indicative of the most bestial type of thought process.

(D) Interesting but I still don't see how this relates to having a higher cognitive function. This one is hard to eliminate for really clear-cut reasons but that's probably only because it simply isn't too relevant. We need something about those cognitive functions!

(E) This also seems like a weakener. This seems to imply that these behaviors are ingrained rather than a response to a certain stimuli.

All in all, (B) is the best answer - not perfect - but easily the best. It has those key words like "new" and "complex" that help us have a bit more confidence but also stands in opposition to the ones we were able to eliminate much easier.

[sue.liushuang]

Hi everyone!

I'm still confused about how B weakens the argument. If the dolphins often exhibit complex new responses to, let's say, any hand signals that may mean "stay still" or something else, the argument is actually weakened because this phenomenon suggests that dolphins do not understand the meaning of signals at all. Does "the hand signal" in B actually limited to the "do something creative together" hand signal?

Thank you in advance!