Frances puts a hungry rat into an experimental chamber. Whenever the rat presses a lever, food falls into a tray. In about 30 minutes, the rat is pressing the lever steadily. Frances returns the rat to the
Training cage for one hour a day every day until the rat produces young. Frances then trains one of
This rat's offspring in the same manner as its mother and repeats this procedure for several generations. You predict that when the twelfth generation rat is put into the training cage, it will press the lever steadily in about_________.
A) 7 minutes
B)10 minutes
C) 20 minutes
D) 30 minutes

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Based on the information given, each previous generation of rats was trained in the same way as the mother and became quicker at pressing the lever for food. Therefore, it can be predicted that the twelfth generation rat will press the lever steadily in a shorter amount of time than the previous generations. Since it took the mother rat about 30 minutes to press the lever steadily, it can be estimated that the twelfth generation rat will take about the same time or slightly less. Therefore, the best choice is D) 30 minutes.

Frances Puts a Hungry Rat into an Experimental Chamber