Question: According to recent research, a blindfolded person whose nostrils have been pinched so that smelling is impossible will have great difficulty in differentiating a bite of an apple from a bite of a raw potato. This clearly demonstrates that taste buds are not the only sense organs involved in determining the taste of a piece of food.

Which of the following premises, is an assumption required by the argument?

1. All people agree that an apple and a potato differ in taste.
2. There are no other senses involved in tasting other than taste, smell, and sight.
3. The word "taste" can be used to describe an experience that involves sight or smell, or both.
4. The research was based on experiments that were conducted on a broad spectrum of the general population.
5. People who have been blindfolded and whose nostrils are pinched can differentiate a bite of an apple from a bite of an onion more easily than they can differentiate a bite of an apple from a bite of a raw potato.

Answer: E
Explanation: In the critical reasoning part of the GMAT, you will be tested on your ability to analyse and think critically. To answer clearly, a person needs to have a lot of brain power.
To make a choice, each option needs to be carefully looked at. Only one of the five choices given will be right. To make the best choice, the candidate must think about many things.

Let’s check the given choices -

A: Incorrect
It is an incorrect choice. Be aware that most of the time, people's opinions won't matter much. The most crucial things are the facts. We solely consider the author's viewpoint. By presenting similar or different perspectives of other people, we cannot support or undermine the author's position.
Say the argument's conclusion is that Daniel Day-Lewis is the best actor of the twenty-first century.
Perhaps the premises would list his best performances, discuss his talent as an actor, mention his Oscars, and so forth.
Could you add "My friend likewise believes that he is the greatest actor" to the conclusion to make it stronger? No. By stating other people's opinions, you cannot support your own position. In order to support your position, you must provide facts.
Therefore, this choice is already dubious. It is expressing the views of others when it says, "Everyone agrees that an apple and a potato have different tastes." Therefore, it doesn't seem to be the best option.
Nevertheless, given this is an assumption-based inquiry, let's attempt to refute (A) just to be certain.

B: Incorrect
It is the wrong choice. There is no presumption here. All we are stating is that there are other sensory organs besides taste buds that affect how food tastes. Any additional organs, such as sight and smell, may be engaged.

C: Correct
It is the correct answer. This alternative emphasizes a fundamental requirement that must be met in order for our conclusion to hold. How can we define "taste" when we come to the conclusion that taste buds are not the only sense organs involved in determining the taste of a piece of food? We all know that our taste receptors can inform us whether a food is salty, sweet, sour, etc. But how can we assert that "taste" is not limited to these characteristics? We assume that taste is influenced by a variety of factors, including sight and smell in addition to how the food feels on our tongues. If the alternative were true, all we would have needed to determine a food's flavor would be our taste senses. As a result, our conclusion would be invalid. As a result, (C) is the right response.

D: Incorrect
It is an incorrect choice. The conclusion does not state that taste buds are not the sole sense organs used by people of most classes and areas to judge the flavor of food. If a small sample size was used in the study, and it was shown that other senses are engaged, that is acceptable. Even though some participants had trouble telling the difference between the two, we can still argue that additional senses are engaged.

E: Incorrect
It is an incorrect answer. According to this alternative, apples, and potatoes taste different on the tongue than onions and apples. This isn't covered and isn't even an assumption.

“According to recent research, a blindfolded person whose” – is a GMAT Critical question. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic requires candidates to find the argument's strengths and weaknesses or the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

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