CAT 2021 Question Paper | VARC Slot 1

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The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Cuttlefish are full of personality, as behavioral ecologist Alexandra Schnell found out while researching the cephalopod's potential to display self-control. . . . "Self-control is thought to be the cornerstone of intelligence, as it is an important prerequisite for complex decision-making and planning for the future," says Schnell . . .
[Schnell's] study used a modified version of the "marshmallow test" . . . During the original marshmallow test, psychologist Walter Mischel presented children between age four and six with one marshmallow. He told them that if they waited 15 minutes and didn't eat it, he would give them a second marshmallow. A long-term follow-up study showed that the children who waited for the second marshmallow had more success later in life. . . . The cuttlefish version of the experiment looked a lot different. The researchers worked with six cuttlefish under nine months old and presented them with seafood instead of sweets. (Preliminary experiments showed that cuttlefishes' favorite food is live grass shrimp, while raw prawns are so-so and Asian shore crab is nearly unacceptable.) Since the researchers couldn't explain to the cuttlefish that they would need to wait for their shrimp, they trained them to recognize certain shapes that indicated when a food item would become available. The symbols were pasted on transparent drawers so that the cuttlefish could see the food that was stored inside. One drawer, labeled with a circle to mean "immediate," held raw king prawn. Another drawer, labeled with a triangle to mean "delayed," held live grass shrimp. During a control experiment, square labels meant "never."
"If their self-control is flexible and I hadn't just trained them to wait in any context, you would expect the cuttlefish to take the immediate reward [in the control], even if it's their second preference," says Schnell . . . and that's what they did. That showed the researchers that cuttlefish wouldn't reject the prawns if it was the only food available. In the experimental trials, the cuttlefish didn't jump on the prawns if the live grass shrimp were labeled with a triangle”many waited for the shrimp drawer to open up. Each time the cuttlefish showed it could wait, the researchers tacked another ten seconds on to the next round of waiting before releasing the shrimp. The longest that a cuttlefish waited was 130 seconds.
Schnell [says] that the cuttlefish usually sat at the bottom of the tank and looked at the two food items while they waited, but sometimes, they would turn away from the king prawn "as if to distract themselves from the temptation of the immediate reward." In past studies, humans, chimpanzees, parrots and dogs also tried to distract themselves while waiting for a reward.
Not every species can use self-control, but most of the animals that can share another trait in common: long, social lives. Cuttlefish, on the other hand, are solitary creatures that don't form relationships even with mates or young. . . . "We don't know if living in a social group is important for complex cognition unless we also show those abilities are lacking in less social species," says . . . comparative psychologist Jennifer Vonk.

Question 14 : Which one of the following, if true, would best complement the passage's findings?

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The key finding of the experiment is that cuttlefish exhibit self-control. According to the passage, species that exhibit self-control are usually social. Cuttlefish are not. But if it were true that cuttlefish exhibit sociability, you could conclude that like most other social creatures, cuttlefish, too, exhibit self-control. So if option B were true, the findings of the passage would be in line with what is generally observed. So, that way, it would complement the findings.
All other options don't relate positively with the passage's findings. The passage states cuttlefish waited up to 130 sec for the shrimp to be released, so option 1 doesn't add to the findings in any way. If the cuttlefish cannot recognise shapes, then the basic premise of the experiment“ that they see the shape pasted on the drawer and decide whether to wait“ is negated. If cuttlefish are equally fond of shrimp and prawn, there is no reason for them to wait. So, all other options are ruled out.

The question is " Which one of the following, if true, would best complement the passage's findings? "

Hence, the answer is 'Cuttlefish live in big groups that exhibit sociability.'

Choice B is the correct answer.