chris@magoosh wrote:The argument claims that humans, regardless of their respective culture, are born predisposed to certain musical intervals. The evidence: six-month old babies have a predilection for 4ths, 5ths, and octaves. We are looking to strengthen this claim.

One way of looking at a STRENGTHEN question is that we want an answer choice that "plugs up a hole" in the argument.

With our six-month babies, one could counter that the babies had already been exposed to music from their respective culture. After all, the prompt says that all music contains these intervals. So if babies have been exposed to music, then they've already developed a fondness for these intervals before the experiment.

Only (B) diffuses this objection by stating, "None of these babies in the experiment had previous exposure to music from any culture."

Therefore the answer is clearly (B) .

vishal.pathak wrote:

chris@magoosh wrote:The argument claims that humans, regardless of their respective culture, are born predisposed to certain musical intervals. The evidence: six-month old babies have a predilection for 4ths, 5ths, and octaves. We are looking to strengthen this claim.

One way of looking at a STRENGTHEN question is that we want an answer choice that "plugs up a hole" in the argument.

With our six-month babies, one could counter that the babies had already been exposed to music from their respective culture. After all, the prompt says that all music contains these intervals. So if babies have been exposed to music, then they've already developed a fondness for these intervals before the experiment.

Only (B) diffuses this objection by stating, "None of these babies in the experiment had previous exposure to music from any culture."

Therefore the answer is clearly (B) .

Hi Chris,

Please help me understand the problem with A

Regards,
Vishal

goelmaya wrote:

vishal.pathak wrote:

chris@magoosh wrote:The argument claims that humans, regardless of their respective culture, are born predisposed to certain musical intervals. The evidence: six-month old babies have a predilection for 4ths, 5ths, and octaves. We are looking to strengthen this claim.

One way of looking at a STRENGTHEN question is that we want an answer choice that "plugs up a hole" in the argument.

With our six-month babies, one could counter that the babies had already been exposed to music from their respective culture. After all, the prompt says that all music contains these intervals. So if babies have been exposed to music, then they've already developed a fondness for these intervals before the experiment.

Only (B) diffuses this objection by stating, "None of these babies in the experiment had previous exposure to music from any culture."

Therefore the answer is clearly (B) .

Hi Chris,

Please help me understand the problem with A

Regards,
Vishal

Adults and grown up babies are out of scope.. IRRELEVANT

goelmaya wrote:

vishal.pathak wrote:

chris@magoosh wrote:The argument claims that humans, regardless of their respective culture, are born predisposed to certain musical intervals. The evidence: six-month old babies have a predilection for 4ths, 5ths, and octaves. We are looking to strengthen this claim.

One way of looking at a STRENGTHEN question is that we want an answer choice that "plugs up a hole" in the argument.

With our six-month babies, one could counter that the babies had already been exposed to music from their respective culture. After all, the prompt says that all music contains these intervals. So if babies have been exposed to music, then they've already developed a fondness for these intervals before the experiment.

Only (B) diffuses this objection by stating, "None of these babies in the experiment had previous exposure to music from any culture."

Therefore the answer is clearly (B) .

Hi Chris,

Please help me understand the problem with A

Regards,
Vishal

Adults and grown up babies are out of scope.. IRRELEVANT

GmatKiss wrote:In an experiment, researchers played a series of musical intervals - two-note sequences - to a large diverse group of six-month old babies. They found that the babies paid significantly more attention when the intervals were perfect octaves, fifths, or fourths than otherwise. These intervals are prevalent in the musical systems of most cultures around the world. Thus, humans probably have a biological predisposition to pay more attention to those intervals than to others.

Which one of the following, if true most strengthens the argument?

A) Several similar experiments using older children and adults found that these subjects, too, had a general tendency to pay more attention to octaves, fifths, and fourths than to other musical intervals.

B) None of the babies in the experiment had previous exposure to music from any culture.

C) All of the babies in the experiment had been exposed to music drawn equally from a wide variety of cultures around the world.

D) In a second experiment, these same babies showed no clear tendency to notice primary colors more than other colors.

E) Octaves, fifths, and fourths were played more frequently during the experiment than other musical intervals were.

IMO: B

In an experiment, researchers played a series of musical intervals - two-note sequences - to a large diverse group of six-month old babies. They found that the babies paid significantly more attention when the intervals were perfect octaves, fifths, or fourths than otherwise. These intervals are prevalent in the musical systems of most cultures around the world. Thus, humans probably have a biological predisposition to pay more attention to those intervals than to others.

Which one of the following, if true most strengthens the argument?

A) Several similar experiments using older children and adults found that these subjects, too, had a general tendency to pay more attention to octaves, fifths, and fourths than to other musical intervals.

B) None of the babies in the experiment had previous exposure to music from any cultur