Critical Reasoning

Using computer techniques, researchers analyze layers of paint that lie buried beneath the surface layers of old paintings. They claim, for example, that additional mountainous scenery once appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was later painted over. Skeptics reply to these claims, however, that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(A) There is no written or anecdotal record that Leonardo da Vinci ever painted over major areas of his Mona Lisa.

(B) Painters of da Vinci’s time commonly created images of mountainous scenery in the backgrounds of portraits like the Mona Lisa.

(C) No one knows for certain what parts of the Mona Lisa may have been painted by da Vinci’s assistants rather than by da Vinci himself.

(D) Infrared photography of the Mona Lisa has revealed no trace of hidden mountainous scenery.

(E) Analysis relying on X-rays only has the capacity to detect lead-based white pigments in layers of paint beneath a painting’s surface layers.

aj5105 wrote:Using computer techniques, researchers analyze layers of paint that lie buried beneath the surface layers of old paintings. They claim, for example, that additional mountainous scenery once appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was later painted over. Skeptics reply to these claims, however, that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(A) There is no written or anecdotal record that Leonardo da Vinci ever painted over major areas of his Mona Lisa.

(B) Painters of da Vinci’s time commonly created images of mountainous scenery in the backgrounds of portraits like the Mona Lisa.

(C) No one knows for certain what parts of the Mona Lisa may have been painted by da Vinci’s assistants rather than by da Vinci himself.

(D) Infrared photography of the Mona Lisa has revealed no trace of hidden mountainous scenery.

(E) Analysis relying on X-rays only has the capacity to detect lead-based white pigments in layers of paint beneath a painting’s surface layers.

It's E for sure.

aj5105 wrote:Using computer techniques, researchers analyze layers of paint that lie buried beneath the surface layers of old paintings. They claim, for example, that additional mountainous scenery once appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was later painted over. Skeptics reply to these claims, however, that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(A) There is no written or anecdotal record that Leonardo da Vinci ever painted over major areas of his Mona Lisa.

(B) Painters of da Vinci’s time commonly created images of mountainous scenery in the backgrounds of portraits like the Mona Lisa.

(C) No one knows for certain what parts of the Mona Lisa may have been painted by da Vinci’s assistants rather than by da Vinci himself.

(D) Infrared photography of the Mona Lisa has revealed no trace of hidden mountainous scenery.

(E) Analysis relying on X-rays only has the capacity to detect lead-based white pigments in layers of paint beneath a painting’s surface layers.

Skeptics says that there are no hidden mountains.

IMO B) by POE.

A) Out of scope.
C) Additional Information.
D) Out of scope.
E) Additional Information.

vinaynp wrote:

aj5105 wrote:Using computer techniques, researchers analyze layers of paint that lie buried beneath the surface layers of old paintings. They claim, for example, that additional mountainous scenery once appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was later painted over. Skeptics reply to these claims, however, that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(A) There is no written or anecdotal record that Leonardo da Vinci ever painted over major areas of his Mona Lisa.

(B) Painters of da Vinci’s time commonly created images of mountainous scenery in the backgrounds of portraits like the Mona Lisa.

(C) No one knows for certain what parts of the Mona Lisa may have been painted by da Vinci’s assistants rather than by da Vinci himself.

(D) Infrared photography of the Mona Lisa has revealed no trace of hidden mountainous scenery.

(E) Analysis relying on X-rays only has the capacity to detect lead-based white pigments in layers of paint beneath a painting’s surface layers.

Skeptics says that there are no hidden mountains.

IMO B) by POE.

A) Out of scope.
C) Additional Information.
D) Out of scope.
E) Additional Information.

B only talks about painting mountains, not painting hidden mountains.....

OA please

IMO E . E weakens the skeptics’ objections by providing limitation of X-ray examination

aj5105 wrote:Using computer techniques, researchers analyze layers of paint that lie buried beneath the surface layers of old paintings. They claim, for example, that additional mountainous scenery once appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was later painted over. Skeptics reply to these claims, however, that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(A) There is no written or anecdotal record that Leonardo da Vinci ever painted over major areas of his Mona Lisa.

(B) Painters of da Vinci’s time commonly created images of mountainous scenery in the backgrounds of portraits like the Mona Lisa.

(C) No one knows for certain what parts of the Mona Lisa may have been painted by da Vinci’s assistants rather than by da Vinci himself.

(D) Infrared photography of the Mona Lisa has revealed no trace of hidden mountainous scenery.

(E) Analysis relying on X-rays only has the capacity to detect lead-based white pigments in layers of paint beneath a painting’s surface layers.

IMO E. To me, the rest seem pretty easy to ignore. OA please.

aj5105 wrote:Using computer techniques, researchers analyze layers of paint that lie buried beneath the surface layers of old paintings. They claim, for example, that additional mountainous scenery once appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which was later painted over. Skeptics reply to these claims, however, that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(A) There is no written or anecdotal record that Leonardo da Vinci ever painted over major areas of his Mona Lisa.

(B) Painters of da Vinci’s time commonly created images of mountainous scenery in the backgrounds of portraits like the Mona Lisa.

(C) No one knows for certain what parts of the Mona Lisa may have been painted by da Vinci’s assistants rather than by da Vinci himself.

(D) Infrared photography of the Mona Lisa has revealed no trace of hidden mountainous scenery.

(E) Analysis relying on X-rays only has the capacity to detect lead-based white pigments in layers of paint beneath a painting’s surface layers.

This is a good question to demonstrate the TRAP GMAC and LSAC set in a lot of these weaken questions. I think with practise WEAKEN questions should turn out to be among the easiest to kill. In WEAKEN Question, you typically want to WEAKEN the REASON used for Reaching the Conclusion. THE TRAP IS VERY PLAUSIBLY TRUE STATEMENTS WILL BE GIVEN THAT WOULD WEAKEN THE ARGUMENT BUT THEY WILL LEAVE OUT A PIECE OF INFORMATION CRITICAL IN THE REASONING USED IN THE PASSAGE. THIS IS INTENDED TO DISTRACT YOU FROM FOCUSSING ON THIS NARROW PIECE OF INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE REASON. IN IN THE PRESENT CASE, THAT PIECE OF INFORMATION IS SOMETHING ABOUT X-RAYS. ANY ANSWER CHOICE THAT DOES NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT X-RIGHT SHOULD BE ELIMINATED IMMEDIATELY. SO WITHOUT EVEN READING THE ANSWER CHOICES AND JUST LOOKING FOR THE WORD X-RAY, YOU CAN ELIMINATE A-D.

ONLY E MENTIONS THIS VITAL PIECE OF INFORMATION.

This technique is useful to save a lot of time and to double check that you indeed have the correct answer. If pure reasoning for example leads you to B, this approach should lead you to E. SO IMMEDIATELY YOU KNOW SOMETHING IS WRONG! What B does is just STATE AN INFORMATION THAT COULD BE TRUE BUT WHICH DOES NOT ADDRESS THE REASONING USED IN THE PASSAGE, WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SECTION IN ALL WEAKEN AND STRENGTHEN QUESTIONS.

Use these two approaches, pure reasoning and analyzing the structure of answer choices, on all weaken and strengthen question and you will soon discover how to always get the right answer.

I would go with E too since it is an alternate solution to weaken the argumet.

IMO, E.

I didn't quite understand the question. Can someone please help?

Here are we suppose to weaken the Skeptic's claims or support what the Skeptic's are saying?

Skeptics objection is stated in the last line of the argument. We need to weaken that objection.

gmatstud wrote:I didn't quite understand the question. Can someone please help?

Here are we suppose to weaken the Skeptic's claims or support what the Skeptic's are saying?

OK so in that case doesn't E actually support the Skeptic's claims. It shows a limitation of X-Ray machine thereby supporting the Skeptic's claims that "that X-ray examinations of the Mona Lisa do not show hidden mountains." .

How does it weaken Skeptic's claims?

Skeptics say X-ray examinations do not show hidden mountains underneath the painting.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(E) says Analysis relying on X rays can only detect certain pigments underneath the painting.

aj5105 wrote:Skeptics say X-ray examinations do not show hidden mountains underneath the painting.

Which of the following, if true, would tend most to weaken the force of the skeptics’ objections?

(E) says Analysis relying on X rays can only detect certain pigments underneath the painting.

Sorry....am still confused

Skeptics are saying X-ray examinations DO NOT show hidden mountains underneath the painting

E says that X-Ray machines can only detect CERTAIN PIGMENTS underneath the painting. So if the mountains are painted using some different pigment, X-Ray machines would not be able to detect it and hence it strengthens what the Skeptics are saying.