Question 171·Hard·Transitions
Many early theories of memory likened the human brain to a filing cabinet, with discrete compartments for each stored experience. ______ advances in contemporary neuroscience reveal that remembering involves the simultaneous activation of widely distributed neural networks, blurring the tidy boundaries those earlier models proposed.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For transition questions, always read a bit before and after the blank and ask: how does the second idea relate to the first—does it support, contrast, explain a cause or result, show sequence, or present something happening at the same time? Then, ignore which option “sounds good” and instead match the type of relationship you found to the function of each transition word (e.g., cause/effect, addition, contrast, time). Eliminate any option whose meaning does not fit the logical connection between the two parts of the sentence.
Hints
Focus on the relationship between old and new ideas
Read the part before the blank (early theories) and the part after the blank (advances in contemporary neuroscience). Ask yourself: is the second part continuing and supporting the first, or is it presenting a different perspective?
Pay attention to key descriptive words
Look at phrases like "discrete compartments" and "tidy boundaries" in the first part, and compare them to "simultaneous activation" and "blurring the tidy boundaries" in the second part. What do these word choices suggest about how similar or different the two views are?
Match each answer choice to a type of connection
Think about what each transition usually signals: one shows cause/effect, one indicates addition, one shows events happening at the same time, and one highlights a difference. Decide which type of connection best fits how the second idea relates to the first.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the first idea
Read the first sentence part: it says early theories of memory compared the brain to a filing cabinet, with discrete compartments and tidy boundaries for each experience. This suggests a neat, separated, organized structure.
Understand the second idea
Now read the part after the blank: advances in contemporary neuroscience show that remembering uses simultaneous activation of widely distributed neural networks, which blurs those tidy boundaries.
So the newer view is that memory is spread out and overlapping, not neatly separated into compartments.
Decide how the two ideas are related
Ask: Does the new information support the old theory, result from it, happen at the same time, or differ from it?
Here, the newer neuroscience finding clearly disagrees with or replaces the old “filing cabinet” idea; it shows memory works in a way that makes those tidy compartments less accurate.
Match the relationship to the correct transition
Now match each transition type to that relationship:
- "Consequently," means as a result (cause and effect).
- "Meanwhile," means at the same time.
- "Furthermore," means in addition to a similar point.
- "By contrast," signals a difference between two ideas.
Since the sentence is setting up a newer view that differs from the earlier theories, the transition that correctly shows this relationship is “By contrast,”.