Cats can judge unseen people's positions in space by the sound of their voices and thus react with surprise when...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Cats can judge unseen people's positions in space by the sound of their voices and thus react with surprise when the same person calls to them from two different locations in a short span of time. Saho Takagi and colleagues reached this conclusion by measuring cats' levels of surprise based on their ear and head movements while the cats heard recordings of their owners' voices from two speakers spaced far apart. Cats exhibited a low level of surprise when owners' voices were played twice from the same speaker, but they showed a high level of surprise when the voice was played once each from the two different speakers.
According to the text, how did the researchers determine the level of surprise displayed by the cats in the study?
They watched how each cat moved its ears and head.
They examined how each cat reacted to the voice of a stranger.
They studied how each cat physically interacted with its owner.
They tracked how each cat moved around the room.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Cats can judge unseen people's positions in space by the sound of their voices and thus react with surprise when the same person calls to them from two different locations in a short span of time.' |
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| 'Saho Takagi and colleagues reached this conclusion by measuring cats' levels of surprise based on their ear and head movements while the cats heard recordings of their owners' voices from two speakers spaced far apart.' |
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| 'Cats exhibited a low level of surprise when owners' voices were played twice from the same speaker, but they showed a high level of surprise when the voice was played once each from the two different speakers.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture and Core Elements
Main Point: Researchers demonstrated that cats can determine people's spatial locations through voice alone by measuring their surprise reactions when the same person's voice comes from different locations.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? How the researchers determined cats' surprise levels in their study
What type of answer do we need? The specific method or technique the researchers used to measure surprise
Any limiting keywords? Content Genre: Sciences, Content Format: Text-only, Question Type: Simple Inference, Language Complexity: Accessible
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The passage explicitly tells us that Takagi and colleagues reached their conclusion by measuring cats' levels of surprise based on their ear and head movements
- This is the direct method they used - they observed and measured physical movements of the cats' ears and heads to determine how surprised the cats were
They watched how each cat moved its ears and head.
✓ Correct
- Directly matches what the passage states about measuring cats' levels of surprise based on their ear and head movements
- This is exactly the methodology the researchers used according to the text
They examined how each cat reacted to the voice of a stranger.
✗ Incorrect
- The passage never mentions strangers' voices - only owners' voices were used in the study
They studied how each cat physically interacted with its owner.
✗ Incorrect
- The study didn't involve physical interaction between cats and owners
- The experiment used recordings of voices, not actual owners present with the cats
They tracked how each cat moved around the room.
✗ Incorrect
- The researchers measured ear and head movements, not how cats moved around the room
- Nothing in the passage suggests tracking cats' movement through space