33 While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Modularity of mind is the notion that the mind is at least partly composed of innate neural structures (modules) that perform fast, necessary tasks. • 1983: cognitive scientist Jerry A. Fodor hypothesized that low-level cognitive systems (e.g., perception, language) are modular. • In Fodorian modularity, high-level systems (e.g., reasoning) are not modular. • 2003: cognitive scientist Peter Carruthers proposed the massive modularity hypothesis (MMH). • MMH expands modularity to include all cognitive systems. The student wants to compare Fodor’s hypothesis with Carruthers’s. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Correct answer: A (parsed from the explanation — this source omits an answer key for this item)
Explanation
Choice A is the best answer. The sentence compares Fodor’s hypothesis with Carruthers’s, noting that because Fodorian modularity considers some but not all cognitive systems modular, it is not as expansive in its definition of modularity as Carruthers’s MMH, which includes all cognitive systems. Choice B is incorrect. The sentence describes Carruthers’s hypothesis—that modularity of mind includes all cognitive systems—but indicates only that this hypothesis followed Fodor’s 1983 hypothesis rather than making a comparison between the hypotheses. Choice C is incorrect. The sentence misrepresents a difference between Fodor’s and Carruthers’s hypotheses. According to the information in the notes, both Fodor and Carruthers consider low-level cognitive systems modular, and their difference lies in whether they also consider high-level systems modular. Choice D is incorrect. The sentence misrepresents a difference between Fodor’s and Carruthers’s hypotheses. According to the information in the notes, both Fodor and Carruthers consider the mind to be at least partly composed of innate neural structures (modules). Their difference lies in whether they consider high-level systems modular. 33 SAT PRACTICE TEST #11 ANSWER EXPLANATIONS
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