Which one of the following describes a preference that is most analogous to the preference mentioned in the first par...

Victoria on April 9, 2020

Hi @HannahNg,

The preference mentioned in the passage is that, when listening to music, we prefer some sort of coherence which connects the various sounds and makes them comprehensible.

This is analogous to (B) which says that many people prefer movies with plots that are clear and easier to follow (in other words, movies that are coherent and comprehensible).

Both the passage and (B) claim that many people prefer clear and connected music/movies to confusing, complex, and/or disorganized ones.

Answer choice (A) is incorrect because it is not comparing the sound of an electric fan or white noise to a different type of noise. This answer choice is not claiming, for example, that people prefer to fall asleep to an electric fan as opposed to white noises with more complex rhythms.

Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Matt12 on October 22, 2022

But B doesn't talk about the other side of the coin. Basically the first paragraph shows a Goldilocks scenario. Music should be neither too complex nor too bland. Choice B only says movies can't be too "complex" (to use the analogy), not that they can't be too bland.
I went with A because I reasoned that a white noise fan is not as bland as complete silence, but not too complex, as playing music would be.
Any thoughts about my line of thinking?

Emil-Kunkin on October 26, 2022

I would take a look at the final sentence of the first paragraph. We are told that people want some sort of coherence. White noise is the opposite of coherence, it is inherently incoherent. While B does not say that a movie cannot be too boring, it does imply that a movie does have a plot. That is, there is a story there, so it is analogous to a musical composition, rather than to just a single note.