CAT 2021 Slot 1 VARC Question & Solution

Reading ComprehensionEasy

Question

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

McGurk and MacDonald (1976) reported a powerful multisensory illusion occurring with audio-visual speech. They recorded a voice articulating a consonant ‘ba-ba-ba’ and dubbed it with a face articulating another consonant ‘ga-ga-ga’. Even though the acoustic speech signal was well recognized alone, it was heard as another consonant after dubbing with incongruent visual speech i.e., ‘da-da-da’. The illusion, termed as the McGurk effect, has been replicated many times, and it has sparked an abundance of research. The reason for the great impact is that this is a striking demonstration of multisensory integration, where that auditory and visual information is merged into a unified, integrated percept.

Options

Visual speech mismatched with auditory speech can result in the perception of an entirely different message: this illusion is known as the McGurk effect.

When the quality of auditory information is poor, the visual information wins over the auditory information.

The McGurk effect which is a demonstration of multisensory integration has been replicated many times.

When the auditory speech signal does not match the visual speech movements, the acoustic speech signal is confusing and integration of the two is imperfect.

Solution

The main points of the paragraph are:

1. A multisensory illusion, dubbing a different visual cue to audio, makes the subject perceive a different sound. (Important point)

2. This illusion is called McGurk effect. (Important point. Related to 1)

3. An impactful subject of research as it demonstrates multisensory integration. (Secondary point. 1 and 2 can stand without this point)

Option A: Covers 1 and 2. Hence, a plausible option.

Option B: It distorts what the author is trying to say. It draws a conclusion out of the results of the study instead of paraphrasing the passage.

Option C: Option C covers only 3. It does not mention 1 and hence is not a good summary.

Option D: Mentions only 1. Not an apt summary.

Hence, the answer is Option A.