Subscription pricing
Columnist: Neuroscientists have found that Support states of profound creativity are accompanied by an increase of theta brain waves, which occur in many regions of the brain, including the hippocampus. ████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ █████████ █████ █████ █████████████ █████ ███ ███ ██████ █ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████████ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that listening to music can trigger a state of profound creativity. This is because listening to music increases theta brainwaves. And increased theta brainwaves are found when someone is in a state of profound creativity.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of assuming that correlation proves causation. The columnist observes that increased theta brainwaves are correlated with states of profound creativity. He then implicitly concludes that theta brainwaves cause a state of profound creativity. (And therefore music, by increasing theta brainwaves, can causally trigger that state.)
But this overlooks the possibility that it’s the other way around: maybe being in a state of creativity is what leads to higher theta brainwaves. Or maybe a third factor—say, waking up early in the morning—both triggers a state of profound creativity and increases theta brainwaves. If either of these were true, listening to music could increase theta brainwaves without triggering a state of profound creativity.
23.
The columnist's reasoning is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
takes for granted ████ █████ ██ █ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ █ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████
b
fails to consider ████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ██ █ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████
c
does not rule ███ ███ ███████████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ █████ █████ ████ █ ████ █████████ ████ █████████ █████ █████
d
ignores the possibility ████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ █ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████
e
provides insufficient reasons ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ █████