Nhận biết (M1)

Neurobiologists Laura Cuaya, Raúl Hernández-Pérez, and colleagues investigated the language detection abilities of eighteen dogs of various ages. The researchers monitored the brain activity of Maverick (a 117-month-old border collie), Mini (a 126-month-old mixed breed), and other dogs while the animals listened to three recordings: one of The Little Prince being read in Spanish, the second in Hungarian, and a third made up of short, randomly selected fragments of the first two, scrambled so that they didn't resemble human speech. Each of the dogs was familiar with either Spanish or Hungarian, but not both. The team concluded that the younger the dog, the worse it may be at differentiating between familiar and unfamiliar languages.

Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly support the team's conclusion?

• A.

  As the age of the dog scanned decreased, so did the amount of brain activity in response to hearing the language the dog was accustomed to or the other language, but not in response to hearing the scrambled recording.

• B.

  The similarity between the pattern of brain activity a dog showed in response to hearing the scrambled recording and the pattern it showed in response to hearing the language it was not accustomed to was lowest among younger dogs.

• C.

  Dogs showed a different pattern of brain activity when hearing the language they were accustomed to than when hearing the other language, and the difference in brain activity decreased as the age of the dog scanned decreased.

• D.

  Although the dogs' general hearing sensitivity declined with age, dogs of all ages showed more brain activity in response to hearing the language they were accustomed to than in response to hearing the other language.