The human brain is primed to recognize faces—so much so that, due to a perceptual tendency called pareidolia, ________ will...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• The human brain
• is primed to recognize faces
• —so much so that,
• due to a perceptual tendency called pareidolia,
• [?] will even find faces
• in clouds,
• wooden doors,
• pieces of fruit,
• and other faceless inanimate objects.
•
• Researcher Susan Magsamen
• has focused her work
• on better understanding this everyday phenomenon.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'The human brain is primed to recognize faces'

• This tells us that our brains are naturally wired to recognize faces
• It's something brains are particularly good at

'—so much so that, due to a perceptual tendency called pareidolia,'

• The dash here signals we're going to elaborate on just HOW primed the brain is
• There's a specific perceptual tendency (called pareidolia) that demonstrates this

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank:

• '______ will even find faces in clouds, wooden doors, pieces of fruit, and other faceless inanimate objects.'

Let's look at our choices:

• A. she (singular, refers to a female person)
• B. they (plural)
• C. it (singular, refers to a thing)
• D. those (plural)

What do we need here? Let's think about what this pronoun refers back to:

• The sentence structure is: "The human brain is primed...so much so that [something] will find faces"
• That [something] needs to refer back to "the human brain"
• "The human brain" is:
  • SINGULAR (one brain, not multiple brains)
  • A THING (not a person)

So we need a singular pronoun for a thing: it is the answer.

Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture:

• The second sentence tells us: "Researcher Susan Magsamen has focused her work on better understanding this everyday phenomenon."
• This confirms the structure - the first sentence discusses the brain's tendency as a phenomenon, and then we learn about a researcher studying it.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We need a pronoun that matches its antecedent "the human brain"
• The pronoun must agree in NUMBER: singular ✓
• The pronoun must agree in TYPE: thing (not person) ✓
• Only "it" meets both requirements

The correct answer is C. it.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Making Pronouns Match Their Antecedents

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent (the noun it refers back to) in two important ways:

1. NUMBER - Singular vs. Plural:

• Singular antecedent → singular pronoun
  • "The student completed her homework." (student = singular → her)
• Plural antecedent → plural pronoun
  • "The students completed their homework." (students = plural → their)

2. TYPE - Person vs. Thing:

• Person antecedent → person pronoun (he/she/they)
  • "The researcher published her findings."
• Thing antecedent → thing pronoun (it/they for things)
  • "The study revealed its limitations."

In this question:

• Antecedent: "the human brain"
  • Number: singular ✓
  • Type: thing ✓
• Correct pronoun: "it"
  • Matches in number (singular) ✓
  • Matches in type (thing) ✓

The pronoun "it" is the only choice that agrees with "the human brain" in both number and type (called pronoun-antecedent agreement in grammar terms).