SAT College Board Practice Test 5 Passage 5

According to the passage, Maguire's findings regarding taxi drivers are significant because they

• demonstrate the validity of a new method
• provide evidence for a popular viewpoint
• call into question an earlier consensus
• challenge the authenticity of previous data

Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

• Lines 8-12 ("The right...difference")
• Lines 12-16 ("Maguire...effect")
• Lines 17-20 ("The brain ...neuroplasticity")
• Lines 20-26 (It had...true")

As used in line 24, "basic" most nearly means

• initial 
• simple
• necessary
• fundamental

Which question was Maguire's study of mental athletes primarily intended to answer?

• Does the act of memorization make use of different brain structures than does the act of navigation?
• Do mental athletes inherit their unusual brain structures, or do the structures develop as a result of specific activities?
• Does heightened memorization ability reflect abnormal brain structures or an unusual use of normal brain structure?
• What is the relationship between general cognitive ability and the unusual brain structures of mental athletes?

Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

• Lines 27-29 ("After...athletes")
• Lines 33-37 ("They...possess")
• Lines 38-43 ("The researchers...scanned")
• Lines 52-54 ("What's...range")

As used in line 39, "matched" most nearly means

• comparable
• identical
• distinguishable
• competing

The main purpose of the fifth paragraph (lines 57-65) is to

• relate Maguire's study of mental athletes to her study of taxi drivers
• speculate on the reason for Maguire's unexpected results
• identify an important finding of Maguire's study of mental athletes
• transition from a summary of Maguire's findings to s description of her methods

According to the passage, when compared to mental athletes, the individuals in the control group in Maguire's second study

• showed less brain activity overall
• demonstrated a wider range of cognitive ability
• exhibited different patterns of brain activity
• displayed noticeably smaller hippocampal regions

The passage most strongly suggests that mental athletes are successful at memorization because they 

• exploit parts of the brain not normally used in routine conversations
• convert information they are trying to memorize into abstract symbols
• organize information into numerical lists prior to memorization 
• exercise their brains regularly through puzzles and other mental challeneges

Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

• Lines 66-72 ("Surprisingly...way-finding")
• Lines 72-73 ("At first...sense")
• Lines 79-81 ("Maguire...memorized")
• Lines 85-87 ("They...childhood")