Questions 101–102 are based on the following reading passage.
For years, the idea that blind people can hear better than sighted
people was considered
something of an old canard. However, functional brain imaging now has
allowed us to look inside
the brains of blind people who possess what can only be termed cerebral
superpowers—
the ability to understand speech at up to 25 syllables per second, a speed
that sounds like “noise”
5 to sighted people (a typical sighted person understands closer to 10
syllables per second). As
it turns out, a brain region called V1, situated at the back of the skulland
which normally only
responds to light has actually been rewired in the brains of blind people
—and now processes
auditory information. This is truly a stunning example of the brain’s
plasticity, a topic of cardinal
importance in designing educational experiences and 10 materials to best
engage the brains of
students.
Of course, in discussing the brain’s amazing plasticity, modern
thinkers take for granted
something that would have been shocking to thinkers from Aristotle
(who posited a holistic, non-
corporeal mind in
De Anima
in the 4th century, BC) through Descartes
(who argued, in the 17th
century, for mind-body dualism)—the idea that the mind is physically
located in the brain and that
15 our intellect, personality, and selfhood are attributable to physical
processes in the brain and can
be altered by brain injuries.
101. According to the passage, the belief that blind people can hear better
than sighted people
(A)
is untrue
(B)
was not a matter of contention, but was then shown to be true
(C)
was, for years, thought to be true, but is now up for debate
(D)
is put forth by the scientific community, but this evidence is
contested by many
(E)
was, for years, thought by many to be false, and then was shown to
be true
Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.
102. According to the passage, Aristotle would NOT have thought that
the mind is separate from the body
the mind exists in parts or modules, rather than as one entity
blind people can hear better than sighted people
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