#25 - Concept Reference, Weaken

[lp1997]

Hi,

Can someone give me a sense for why answer choice D is incorrect? Doesn't D provide an alternative explanation for how music relaxes the brain? It posits that the brain is reacting to the coherence of the music -- or the lack therof. Doesn't this provide an alternative to the idea that the continuity in music relaxes the brain? Or do the continuity and coherence of the music here refer to the same aspect of music? I thought D would be a better answer than C, which merely says that there is one continuous sound that does not make the brain feel relaxed.

Is C correct because the relationship set forth in the stimulus is sort of absolute? (A continuous sound, particularly one that is judged to be safe, relaxes the brain.) So C, merely be saying that not all continuous sounds relax the brain, weakens this conclusion?

Thank you!

[Daniel Stern]

Hi LP:

Your analysis of answer C is perfect: C directly attacks the causal relationship set up by the author of Passage A, namely that continuous sounds cause the brain to relax. Answer C shows an instance of the cause without the effect, or, even worse, the cause -- continuous noise of rocking chair -- with the opposite effect -- brain being unnerved rather than relaxed.

With Answer Choice D, you're reading too much into it that isn't there: we have to weaken the notion that continuous music causes relaxation, and D talks about whether we'll find a melody coherent or not. D doesn't attack the notion that the continuity makes our brain relax, and doesn't weaken the causal relationship.

Good luck in your studies,
Dan