Question 190·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas
Archivists digitizing oral-history recordings sometimes select noise-reduction settings by testing how accurately listeners transcribe isolated words. Anika Bell and colleagues compared moderate and intensive filtering of the same recordings. Intensive filtering yielded more accurate isolated-word transcriptions. Yet when listeners heard uninterrupted excerpts and answered questions about the sequence of events described, those hearing the moderately filtered recordings performed better. In a follow-up, the researchers inserted explicit connectives such as “earlier” and “afterward” at clause transitions in otherwise matched excerpts; the difference in event-sequence comprehension then disappeared. Acoustic analysis showed that intensive filtering attenuated pitch changes that often coincided with clause boundaries. Taken together, the findings suggest that _____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For an inference question, combine all the findings rather than selecting an option supported by only one result. Here, compare performance across the two tasks, determine what the follow-up changed, and use the acoustic analysis to identify the most strongly supported explanation for the pattern.
Hints
Distinguish the outcomes
Identify which filter performed better on isolated-word transcription and which performed better on questions about a complete narrative.
Examine what changed
Consider why adding words such as “earlier” and “afterward” might eliminate the difference between the filters.
Use the acoustic finding
Ask what information pitch changes at clause boundaries could provide beyond the identities of individual words.
Step-by-step Explanation
Compare the two listening tasks
Intensive filtering produced better transcription of isolated words, but moderate filtering produced better understanding of event sequence in uninterrupted excerpts. Thus, success on the first task did not predict success on the second.
Interpret the follow-up
When explicit temporal connectives were added, the event-sequence comprehension gap disappeared. This suggests that the connectives supplied structural information that listeners had previously obtained in another way.
Connect the acoustic evidence
Intensive filtering weakened pitch changes at clause boundaries. Combined with the follow-up result, this supports the inference that vocal patterns can communicate narrative structure and that isolated-word evaluations may fail to measure this function.