Question 48·Hard·Inferences
Urban studies researchers recently confirmed that short visits to quiet green spaces can lower residents’ stress levels, whereas spending the same amount of time in areas with continuous traffic noise tends to heighten stress. Wondering whether the same environments would affect boredom in the opposite way, the researchers predicted that volunteers who spent an entire three-hour period solely in a hushed botanical garden would ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For logical-completion inference items, first map the relationship stated in the text (here: quiet vs. noisy and their effect on stress). Then use the key directional language (e.g., “in the opposite way”) to flip or adjust that relationship for the new variable (boredom). Finally, choose the option that (1) talks about the correct variable and (2) matches the required comparison between groups.
Hints
Identify what’s being reversed
The passage gives a clear pattern for stress (quiet lowers it; noise raises it). Now look for what it means for boredom to work in the opposite way.
Keep the focus on boredom
Eliminate choices that mainly talk about stress or other effects. The blank should be completed with a prediction about boredom.
Look for a direct comparison
The prediction should compare the garden volunteers to the downtown volunteers. Which option makes that comparison explicitly?
Check for “quiet is worse (for boredom)”
If boredom is opposite of stress here, the quiet garden should come out worse on boredom than the noisy street. Find the option that matches that direction.
Step-by-step Explanation
Restate the established stress pattern
From the first sentence:
- Quiet green spaces lower stress.
- Continuous traffic noise tends to heighten stress.
So for stress, the garden is better and the downtown street is worse.
Use the phrase “in the opposite way” to set the prediction
The text says the researchers wondered whether these environments would affect boredom in the opposite way.
So whatever was better for stress should be worse for boredom (and vice versa).
Translate that into a comparison between groups
Applying the “opposite way” idea:
- The hushed botanical garden should lead to more boredom over three hours.
- The busy downtown street should lead to less boredom over three hours.
So the prediction should explicitly compare the garden group as more bored than the downtown group.
Select the option that matches the prediction
The only option that states the garden volunteers would be more bored than the downtown volunteers is:
report feeling more bored than volunteers who spent the entire period on a busy downtown street.