Q18 - To find out how barn owls

[AllyMaeBell]

18. (A)
Question Type: Flaw
First, find the core. Since matured owls who had once had distorting lenses, but now had them removed, continued to act as if they misjudged the location of the source of sounds, it must be the case that once a barn owl has developed an auditory scheme for estimating the source of sounds, it ceases to use vision.
Second, find the assumption. The conclusion assumes that there is no cause for misjudging the source of sounds other than having developed an auditory scheme and ceased to use vision. Let’s look for an answer choice that identifies an alternate cause for misjudging the source of sounds.

(A) Correct. This is an alternate cause that would explain why the mature owls still can’t accurately judge the source of sounds.
(B) Irrelevant"”we are not concerned with all owls, just barn owls. And we are not concerned with how good their sense of sight is in general, but what the impact of distorted sight is on locating sounds.
(C) Out of scope. Human reasoning processes? Nonhuman organism? Neither of these are mentioned.
(D) Other bird species are irrelevant to the conclusion, which only concerns barn owls.
(E) False. The experimental results clearly linked to the conclusion.

[chike_eze]

How I read this one:

The scientists put blindfolds on the barn owls before they actually opened their eyes. Baby birds? Harsh! The birds had difficulty measuring sound distance ...hmm, maybe it's because you are torturing them, blindfolds and all...
The blindfolds were removed when the barn owls were mature, but they still had issues measuring sound distance.
Conclusion: Once barn owls develop a different method for measuring the source of sound they do not use vision anymore.

> Hmm.. it could also be that they are blind (or at least visually impaired), cos you blindfolded them since birth!!, therefore they have no choice but to use this other method.

I went to the answer choices thinking: The scientists did not take into consideration other possible reasons for the owl's behavior. The blind option was stuck in my mind... I hesitated when I read (A) cos I didn't expect to see it even though I was thinking it... Picked it after going through other options

Question: What other answer would work here?

[noah]

It seems like you had this down. You're really saying the same thing as Ally above and as (A) - you're just using "blind" instead of "permanently impaired."

[goriano]

18. (A)
Question Type: Flaw
First, find the core. Since matured owls who had once had distorting lenses, but now had them removed, continued to act as if they misjudged the location of the source of sounds, it must be the case that once a barn owl has developed an auditory scheme for estimating the source of sounds, it ceases to use vision.
Second, find the assumption. The conclusion assumes that there is no cause for misjudging the source of sounds other than having developed an auditory scheme and ceased to use vision. Let’s look for an answer choice that identifies an alternate cause for misjudging the source of sounds.

(A) Correct. This is an alternate cause that would explain why the mature owls still can’t accurately judge the source of sounds.
(B) Irrelevant"”we are not concerned with all owls, just barn owls. And we are not concerned with how good their sense of sight is in general, but what the impact of distorted sight is on locating sounds.
(C) Out of scope. Human reasoning processes? Nonhuman organism? Neither of these are mentioned.
(D) Other bird species are irrelevant to the conclusion, which only concerns barn owls.
(E) False. The experimental results clearly linked to the conclusion.

The scientists' hypothesis is that "once a barn own has developed an auditory scheme, it ceases to use vision to locate sounds."

My issue with (A) is that even if we considered that the owl's vision was permanently impaired, wouldn't that information tend to support the hypothesis that they cease to use vision? Or does the word "cease" imply that the owls voluntarily decided to stop using their vision (suggesting that their vision is still intact)?

[noah]

The scientists' hypothesis is that "once a barn own has developed an auditory scheme, it ceases to use vision to locate sounds."

My issue with (A) is that even if we considered that the owl's vision was permanently impaired, wouldn't that information tend to support the hypothesis that they cease to use vision? Or does the word "cease" imply that the owls voluntarily decided to stop using their vision (suggesting that their vision is still intact)?

Good question.

It looks like you nailed the conclusion's words but not what's it's doing. The conclusion attempts to explain why the owls still were off target. "It's because they stop relying on vision once they've established where things are auditorily." But couldn't it be some other explanation? As (A) says, perhaps their eyes were permanently damaged and they're still relying on them, and they're sending them off target.

Eyes being impaired and whether they're used are totally different topics. You can use something that's impaired.

Tell me if that doesn't clear it up.

(I really hate the subject matter of this argument!)