16Hit1600
Craft and StructureVery hardResponding to a claim with a distinction

Craft and Structure practice question

Text 1 A psychologist claims that multitasking is a myth: the brain cannot attend to two demanding tasks at once, and what people call multitasking is rapid switching that costs time and accuracy. Text 2 A second psychologist accepts that two demanding tasks cannot share attention, but notes that a well-practised task — walking, or knitting a familiar pattern — makes almost no demand on attention. Pairing such a task with a demanding one, she argues, is genuine and costless multitasking.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim in Text 1?

  1. A. By agreeing about pairs of demanding tasks while arguing that the claim overlooks pairings that include an automatic task.Correct
  2. B. By denying that switching between tasks costs time or accuracy.
  3. C. By arguing that people can attend fully to two demanding tasks at once.
  4. D. By claiming that knitting is a demanding task.

Answer: A. By agreeing about pairs of demanding tasks while arguing that the claim overlooks pairings that include an automatic task.

Text 2 'accepts' the point about two demanding tasks and carves out the case of a well-practised task paired with a demanding one.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. By denying that switching between tasks costs time or accuracy.
Text 2 never disputes the switching cost.
C. By arguing that people can attend fully to two demanding tasks at once.
Text 2 explicitly accepts that two demanding tasks cannot share attention.
D. By claiming that knitting is a demanding task.
Text 2 gives knitting as an example of a task that makes almost NO demand.

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