Gmat Question - Which one is correct?

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Gmat Question - Which one is correct?

by ThinhPhung » Sat May 24, 2014 5:33 pm
My Friend, I've got this ambiguous question. Could you please help?

Adult female rats who have never before encountered rat pups will start to show maternal behaviors after being confined with a pup for about seven days. This period can be considerably shortened by disabling the female's sense of smell or by removing the scent-producing glands of the pup.
Which of the following hypotheses best explains the contrast described above?

A. The sense of smell in adult female rats is more acute than that in rat pups.
B. The amount of scent produced by rat pups increases when they are in the presence of a female rat that did not bear them.
C. Female rats that have given birth are more affected by olfactory cues than are female rats that have never given birth.
D. A female rat that has given birth shows maternal behavior toward rat pups that she did not bear more quickly than does a female rat that has never given birth.
E. The development of a female rat's maternal interest in a rat pup that she did not bear is inhibited by the odor of the pup.

Source: wwww.quizlib.net

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by [email protected] » Sat May 24, 2014 6:29 pm
Hi ThinhPhung,

This CR prompt is an example of an Explain question. To answer it, we need an answer that addresses the given Facts:

The Facts:
-Adult female rats who NEVER encountered rat pups will show MATERNAL BEHAVIORS after 7 days (and confinement with the pup).
-This period (7 days) can be shortened by
1) Disabling the female's sense of smell
or
2) Removing the scent-producing glands of the pup

The Logic:
The standard amount of time for a female rat's maternal instinct to start with a strange rat pup is 7 days. The two ways to SHORTEN that time are both based on SCENT: either disable the adult female's ability to smell OR remove the scent-producing glands of the rat pup.

The only answer that addresses the "scent solution" to this problem is E, since it explains WHY the amount of time would be shortened.

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