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Para Jumble - Emergent Consciousness

CAT 2023 Slot 2 · Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension · Medium · Verbal Ability

This is a medium Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension question from the CAT 2023 Slot 2 paper. It tests Verbal Ability. The full answer key and a step-by-step explanation are below — try it yourself first, then reveal the solution.

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The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.

  1. Like the ants that make up a colony, no single neuron holds complex information like self-awareness, hope or pride.
  2. Although the human brain is not yet understood enough to identify the mechanism by which emergence functions, most neurobiologists agree that complex interconnections among the parts give rise to qualities that belong only to the whole.
  3. Nonetheless, the sum of all neurons in the nervous system generate complex human emotions like fear and joy, none of which can be attributed to a single neuron.
  4. Human consciousness is often called an emergent property of the human brain.
Answer

4123

Explanation

Sentence 4 introduces the topic (consciousness as an emergent property). Sentence 1 provides an analogy (ants in a colony, single neuron holding no complex info). Sentence 2 discusses neurobiologists' consensus on complex interconnections giving rise to qualities belonging to the whole. Sentence 3 concludes with "Nonetheless, the sum of all neurons...". Thus, 4123.

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