Question 55·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas
Ravens that see a competitor while caching food often conceal the food behind objects and later relocate it, behaviors that may reduce theft. Priya Nandakumar investigated whether ravens can infer that a competitor they cannot see might nevertheless be watching through a small aperture. One group of ravens was first allowed to steal caches after watching another bird through such an aperture. A control group spent the same amount of time in the experimental rooms, but the aperture remained covered. Later, each raven cached food alone while recordings of another raven’s calls played from an adjacent compartment. On some trials the aperture was open, and on others it was covered. If ravens use their own stealing experience to interpret an open aperture as a possible route for surveillance, then ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For an inference question about an experiment, identify the proposed explanation and translate it into a predicted pattern of results. Track each manipulated factor separately, then determine which option reflects how those factors should work together under the stated explanation.
Hints
Interpret the measured behavior
Consider what concealing or relocating food suggests about a raven’s perception of possible theft.
Track both variables
The study varies both the ravens’ prior experience and whether the aperture is open or covered.
Look for an interaction
Choose the prediction that depends on the relevant combination of experience and test condition, rather than on only one factor.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the behaviors indicate
Concealing and relocating food indicate that a raven believes a competitor may be able to observe and steal its cache.
Combine the experimental factors
Only one group learned from experience that a bird can watch through the aperture. Moreover, surveillance through the aperture is possible only when it is open, so the predicted response must depend on both prior experience and aperture condition.
Select the matching prediction
The logical completion is the experienced ravens, but not the control ravens, should conceal and relocate food more often with the aperture open than with it covered.