#11 - Concept Reference, Parallel

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thank you!

[fersian]

Hello,
I chose answer choice 'A' and I'm having a hard time understanding why 'B' is the correct answer.

From my understanding, the relationship between cognitive interview and instructed eye-closure techniques is as follows:
Eye-closure techniques can have just as good of witness recall as cognitive. However, eye-closure techniques are not as complex and it has greater benefits.

With answer choice 'B', I'm seeing that a reduced consumption of saturated fat is COMBINED. I don't see how that relationship is analogous to that of cognitive and eye-closure techniques which seem to work independently from each other.

[Jay Donnell]

Hi Fersian!

Parallel questions within RC can often be major league pains in the butt, so I want to help get to the bottom (no pun intended) of this particular question.

The passage mentions two different methods for increasing the amount of data reported in witness interviews, but both cognitive interviews and hypnosis had their shortcomings. The issues with cognitive interviews didn't stem from the process being ineffective, rather that it demanded a high level of training and large amount of time spent to be used properly, and that combination was not always possible. Hypnosis had in my opinion larger issues, and even though it was less complex than cognitive interviews, those issues rendered the method significantly far from ideal.

The passage suggested that a core element to both methods, the instructed eye-closure, may be the best method yet to overcome the inherent issues with both cognitive interviews and hypnosis.

The relationship between cognitive interviews and eye-closure is that eye-closure involves just a part of the cognitive interview process. Eye-closure seems to have just as many positive effects as the cognitive interviews but is free from the burdens associated with the interviews, so it became the author's recommended method.


Now let's break down why B works so well here. Here are the parallel connections between the passage and the subject matter in the answer:

Health benefits = witness recall ability

Increased consumption of fiber alone= instructed eye-closure

Reduced consumption of saturated fat and increased consumption of fiber = cognitive interviews

Much like in the passage, the less complex (or partial/light) method has as many positive benefits as the more complex process.

To respond directly to your issue, it's not that eye-closure and cognitive interviews are "independent" of each other, it's more appropriate to see eye-closure being just one component to the more complex process of the interviews.

A falls short of being correct when it implies that individuals see as much benefit from engaging "in more strenuous exercise on a less frequent basis." That falls short of the whole/part relationship we wanted in regards to how the cognitive interview relates to the instructed eye-closure.

I hope that helps!

-Jay

[abby1285]

Hi, could someone explain why E is wrong? I've read the explanations above and think I am confusing the parallel connection. For E, I was thinking the "diet and exercise" are the cognitive and closing-eyes combination and that the statement "less significant benefits can be achieved through exercise alone" was paralleling the idea that cognitive or eyes-closed would not be as helpful separately as they are together. Thanks!

[Poonam Agrawal]

Hi Abby!

It sounds like you've drawn correct parallels between answer choice (E) and the passage. The issue with answer choice (E) is that we want to say that eye-closing alone is just as effective as cognitive interviews + eye-closing. This is strongly suggested in line 57 of the passage: "More significantly, instructed eye-closure by itself appears to improve witness recall to a degree equivalent to that demonstrated by the cognitive interview."

Thus, answer choice (E) is incorrect because it is not consistent with the idea prevalent in the passage - simpler methods can be just as effective as their more complex counterparts. For answer choice (E) to be correct, it would have had to say that the same benefits can be achieved through exercise alone. Hope this helps!

[SGD2021]

Hello,

Since the question asks for a parallel relationship to what " holds between the cognitive interview (A) and instructed eye-closure (B)" does that mean all answers will explain the cognitive interview (A) first and then the instructed eye closure interview (B) second? Does this always hold for parallel questions where the first thing mentioned in question will be the first mentioned in answer choice and 2nd thing mentioned in question is always second thing mentioned in answer choice?

[Robert Carroll]

SGD2021,

For Parallel Reasoning questions in general, the order of presentation doesn't matter. If it mattered, the testmakers would have said "respectively" in the question.

Robert Carroll

[twoyutes]

Hello,

I also chose E in part because I do think I glossed over the line that says the witness recall (outcome) is equivalent, but more so because my overall takeaway was that eye-closure is ideal/preferable for all of the other reasons discussed (eg. less training, fewer errors, etc). So when I was looking for answers, I was looking for one with a superior and inferior option because I guess I was thinking more comprehensively.

So…
Question: is the key with matching the passage to answer choice B to just focus on the witness recall/health benefits and how those are equivalent between the combo and solo options? And ignore the comprehensive preferability of the solo eye-closure option?

Upon further re-reading of E, I see that even with this apparently incorrect interpretation, E has it backwards. So I shouldn’t have chosen it anyway..

But I’ll post this question anyway because I’m still curious about whether to focus on just the one aspect of equivalence vs. the overall preferability of one option.

Thanks!

[Dana D]

Hey twoyutes,

The passage says that in cognitive interviews, eyewitnesses have to close their eyes. Closing eyes and doing a cognitive interview has many benefits, but eye closing alone also has positive benefits. Therefore, we're looking for an answer choice that presents a useful combination, but which acknowledges that one factor of that combination is also useful on it's own.

Answer (B) says that reducing saturated fat and consuming fiber has significant health benefits (that's eye closure and cognitive interviewing) but increasing fiber alone has basically the same benefits (that's eye closure alone).

Hope that helps!