Self-study
The five senses have traditionally been viewed as distinct yet complementary. ████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ █ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ █ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██████████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that some people have unusual distinctions between their five senses. Why? Because some people reacting to a stimulus in one sense claim to have an experience in a different sense, contrary to the way senses are traditionally understood.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the people studied are telling the truth about their sense experiences and have the capability to accurately represent them. He further assumes their sense experiences are unusual in the sense that most people are not synesthesiacs.
12.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Synesthesiacs demonstrate a ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████ ██████
This suggests some people studied failed to report their experiences accurately. If synesthesiacs struggle to use words, they may have normal sense experiences but simply describe them in an unusual way.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
b
Recent evidence strongly ████████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████
The author does not assume there are only five senses. The existence of other senses does not explain why some people apparently confound stimuli between the five traditional senses.
c
The particular ways ██ █████ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████████████ ██████ █ ████████ ████████
This is not grounds for denying that those experiences are unusual. The group of all synesthesiacs can have sense experiences that are internally consistent but still very different from those of the general population.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
d
The synesthetic phenomenon ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████
This does not imply that synesthesiacs are misrepresenting their experiences or that their experiences are typical. It’s possible synesthetic experiences are unusual in those cultures as well.
e
Synesthesiacs can be ███████████ ███ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██████
This suggests a remedy for those experiences—it doesn’t imply they don’t exist. Synesthetic experiences are not made typical simply because using drugs can make them go away temporarily.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.