PT106.S1.Q23

PrepTest 106 - Section 1 - Question 23

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Support Further evidence of a connection between brain physiology and psychological states has recently been uncovered in the form of a correlation between electroencephalograph patterns and characteristic moods. █ █████ ██████ ████ ████████████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███████████ ██████████████████ ████████████ ████████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The author concludes that one’s general disposition (mood) is a result of the activity of the frontal lobe. This is based on a study that showed participants who suffered from clinical despression showed less left frontal lobe activity than right frontal lobe activity. Participants who were good-natured exhibited greater left frontal lobe activity.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that the correlation observed in the study is explained by lobe activity causing one’s mood. This overlooks the possibility that one’s mood causes different lobe activity and the possibility that one’s mood and one’s lobe activity are both a result of something else.

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23.

Each of the following, if █████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████

a

Many drugs prescribed ██ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ █████████

If drugs act to address depression by causing increased left lobe activity, that suggests lobe activity does have a causal impact on one’s mood. This strengthens the argument, so it’s correct, since this is an EXCEPT question.

Directionally wrong
b

Excessive sleep, a ███████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████████

This suggests the causal relationship might be reversed. Depression might lead to more sleep, which leads to less left lobe activity.

Alternate explanation
c

Frontal lobe activity ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███

If lobe activity does affect mood, we’d expect changes in lobe activity to change mood. This provides evidence that varying lobe activity doesn’t affect mood.

Plausibility
d

Earlier studies indicated ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████

This suggests the correlation between lobe activity and mood are both a result of something else. So, the existence of the correlation doesn’t have to imply that lobe activity causes changes in mood.

Alternate explanation
e

Social interaction of ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ █████████

This suggests the causal relationship might be reversed. Depressed people might not engage in as much social interaction, which could result in less left lobe activity than that experienced by good-natured people.

Alternate explanation

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