Free GMAT SECTION 3: VERBAL ABILITY Exam Braindumps (page: 19)

Alexander Calder was one of the most innovative and original American artists of the twentieth century. Calder arrived in Paris in 1926 and devoted himself to a innovative project comprised of animals made out of wire, scraps of cloth, wood, cork, labels, bits of scrap metal and pieces of rubber that he called the Circus. During his performances, Calder invented ways to simulate the flight of birds: “These are little bits of white paper, with a hole and slight weight on each one, which flutter down several variously coiled thin steel wires which I jiggle so that they flutter down like doves.” The Circus was the laboratory of Calder’s work; in it he experimented with new formulas and techniques. By 1930, Calder's Circus had developed into one of the real successes of the Montparnasse art world attracting the attention of such renowned artists as Fernand Leger and Joan Miro.
Encouragement from the upper echelons of the Parisian art scene undoubtedly led him to try more serious experiments in wire sculptures. Calder eventually becoming interested in the movement of objects, some of which he motorized. In 1933, Calder completed Object with Red Discs, a sculpture he described as a two-meter rod with a heavy sphere, suspended from the apex of a wire, giving it a cantilever effect. It had five thin aluminum discs projected at right angels from five wires, held in position by a spherical counterweight. With this new creation, the idea of the mobile was born. In creating a work named Constellations in 1943, Calder explored the plastic possibilities of mobiles; he used small pieces of wood, which he shaped and sometimes painted. From this point on, Calder’s ambition changed focus. He sought more challenging designs. One of Calder’s objectives was to display objects in the air, giving the viewer the experience of finding new skies filled with moving and colored constellations. Calder accomplished this in Acoustic Ceiling (1954). Calder’s humor was evident in such works as Le Bougnat (1959) and The Pagoda (1963). Later, Calder cut fantastic animals from sheet metal, creating La Vache and Elephant (both 1970) and a mobile entitled Nervous Wreck (1976), which represents the red skeleton of a fish. Calder defined volume without mass and incorporated movement and time in art. His inventions, which redefined certain basic principles of sculpture, have established him as the most innovative sculptor of the twentieth century.

According to the passage, all of the following are characteristic of Calder’s work EXCEPT

Alexander Calder was one of the most innovative and original American artists of the twentieth century. Calder arrived in Paris in 1926 and devoted himself to a innovative project comprised of animals made out of wire, scraps of cloth, wood, cork, labels, bits of scrap metal and pieces of rubber that he called the Circus. During his performances, Calder invented ways to simulate the flight of birds: “These are little bits of white paper, with a hole and slight weight on each one, which flutter down several variously coiled thin steel wires which I jiggle so that they flutter down like doves.” The Circus was the laboratory of Calder’s work; in it he experimented with new formulas and techniques. By 1930, Calder's Circus had developed into one of the real successes of the Montparnasse art world attracting the attention of such renowned artists as Fernand Leger and Joan Miro.
Encouragement from the upper echelons of the Parisian art scene undoubtedly led him to try more serious experiments in wire sculptures. Calder eventually becoming interested in the movement of objects, some of which he motorized. In 1933, Calder completed Object with Red Discs, a sculpture he described as a two-meter rod with a heavy sphere, suspended from the apex of a wire, giving it a cantilever effect. It had five thin aluminum discs projected at right angels from five wires, held in position by a spherical counterweight. With this new creation, the idea of the mobile was born. In creating a work named Constellations in 1943, Calder explored the plastic possibilities of mobiles; he used small pieces of wood, which he shaped and sometimes painted. From this point on, Calder’s ambition changed focus. He sought more challenging designs. One of Calder’s objectives was to display objects in the air, giving the viewer the experience of finding new skies filled with moving and colored constellations. Calder accomplished this in Acoustic Ceiling (1954). Calder’s humor was evident in such works as Le Bougnat (1959) and The Pagoda (1963). Later, Calder cut fantastic animals from sheet metal, creating La Vache and Elephant (both 1970) and a mobile entitled Nervous Wreck (1976), which represents the red skeleton of a fish. Calder defined volume without mass and incorporated movement and time in art. His inventions, which redefined certain basic principles of sculpture, have established him as the most innovative sculptor of the twentieth century.

The author’s attitude toward the mobiles of Alexander Calder is best described as

Alexander Calder was one of the most innovative and original American artists of the twentieth century. Calder arrived in Paris in 1926 and devoted himself to a innovative project comprised of animals made out of wire, scraps of cloth, wood, cork, labels, bits of scrap metal and pieces of rubber that he called the Circus. During his performances, Calder invented ways to simulate the flight of birds: “These are little bits of white paper, with a hole and slight weight on each one, which flutter down several variously coiled thin steel wires which I jiggle so that they flutter down like doves.” The Circus was the laboratory of Calder’s work; in it he experimented with new formulas and techniques. By 1930, Calder's Circus had developed into one of the real successes of the Montparnasse art world attracting the attention of such renowned artists as Fernand Leger and Joan Miro.
Encouragement from the upper echelons of the Parisian art scene undoubtedly led him to try more serious experiments in wire sculptures. Calder eventually becoming interested in the movement of objects, some of which he motorized. In 1933, Calder completed Object with Red Discs, a sculpture he described as a two-meter rod with a heavy sphere, suspended from the apex of a wire, giving it a cantilever effect. It had five thin aluminum discs projected at right angels from five wires, held in position by a spherical counterweight. With this new creation, the idea of the mobile was born. In creating a work named Constellations in 1943, Calder explored the plastic possibilities of mobiles; he used small pieces of wood, which he shaped and sometimes painted. From this point on, Calder’s ambition changed focus. He sought more challenging designs. One of Calder’s objectives was to display objects in the air, giving the viewer the experience of finding new skies filled with moving and colored constellations. Calder accomplished this in Acoustic Ceiling (1954). Calder’s humor was evident in such works as Le Bougnat (1959) and The Pagoda (1963). Later, Calder cut fantastic animals from sheet metal, creating La Vache and Elephant (both 1970) and a mobile entitled Nervous Wreck (1976), which represents the red skeleton of a fish. Calder defined volume without mass and incorporated movement and time in art. His inventions, which redefined certain basic principles of sculpture, have established him as the most innovative sculptor of the twentieth century.

It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following statement was true of the Parisian art scene?

Intuitively, intellectual skills and perceptual-motor skills seem very different because perceptual-motor skills appear more primitive. Ontogenetically, perceptual-motor skills develop before intellectual skills, or at least before most intellectual skills are manifested. Phylogenetically, creatures "high on the evolutionary ladder" are more obviously capable of intellectual skills than are creatures "lower down ".
Perceptual-motor skills also seem more closely tied to specific forms of expression. Being a chess player does not mean one can only play with pieces of a certain size, that one can only move pieces with one's right hand, and so on. By contrast, being a violinist means one can play an instrument whose size occupies a fairly narrow range and that one must play with a rather rigid assignment of functions to effectors (bowing with the right hand, and fingering with the left). The seeming narrowness of this perceptual-motor skill expression, contrasted with the seeming openness of intellectual skill expression, seems to follow from intellectual skills having symbolic outcomes and perceptual-motor skills having non-symbolic outcomes. Symbolic outcomes need not be realized in specific ways and can rely on abstract rules. Non-symbolic outcomes, by contrast, need more specific forms of realization and seem to depend on restricted associations between stimuli and response.
Another difference between intellectual and perceptual-motor skills is that the two kinds of skill seem to be represented in different parts of the brain. For example, structures homologous to the optic rectum, a nucleus located on the dorsal surface of the midbrain, have a common function in all vertebrates-coordinating visual, auditory, and somatosensory information relevant to the control of orienting movements of the eyes, ears, and head. Similarities in structure and function between these and other brain areas associated with perceptual- motor behavior suggest that mechanisms for control of perceptual-motor skills are both highly specialized and conserved across species. In contrast, what distinguishes the human brain from the brains of other species - even closely related ones - is the differential growth of brain regions most strongly associated with intellectual skills, such as the association areas of the cerebral cortex.

The contention that these areas serve intellectual functions is supported by a large body of clinical and experimental literature. Together, these diverse sources of information suggest that perceptual-motor and intellectual skills depend on distinct brain circuits.

The passage is chiefly concerned with