Nhận biết (M1)

Political scientists have asserted that by providing succinct and clear information about candidates and issues, campaign advertisements should reduce the differences in political knowledge observed between groups of voters. Cognitive scientists have noted, however, that existing domain knowledge facilitates the acquisition of new information in that domain. Valentino et al. shed light on this issue by presenting control ads or ads for George W. Bush or Al Gore (candidates in the 2000 US presidential election) to participants with low or high existing political knowledge, then quizzing participants on their understanding of both candidates' positions.

Taken together, information in the text and graph best support which conclusion about the campaign ads used in the study by Valentino et al.?

• A.

  They appear to have benefited high-knowledge participants more than they benefited low-knowledge participants, which lends more support to the view advanced by political scientists than to the view advanced by cognitive scientists.

• B.

  They appear to have had an effect contrary to the effect that political scientists expect campaign ads to have, possibly due to the phenomenon that cognitive scientists have identified.

• C.

  They appear to have worsened the problem that political scientists claim that campaign ads should alleviate, possibly because the phenomenon identified by cognitive scientists appears not to have occurred.

• D.

  They appear to have had the result that political scientists predict that campaign ads will have, but only for high-knowledge participants, which is what cognitive scientists would expect.