GMAT Reading Comprehension
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Source: GWD
Level: 3
There is no consensus among researchers regarding what qualifies a substance as a pheromone. While most agree on a basic definition of pheromones as chemicals released by one individual of a species which, when detected by another individual of the same species, elicit a specific behavioral or physiological response, some researchers also specify that the response to pheromones must be unconscious. In addition, the distinction between pheromones and odorants - chemicals that are consciously detected as odors-can be blurry, and some researchers classify pheromones as a type of odorant. Evidence that pheromone responses may not involve conscious odor perception comes from the finding that in many species, pheromones are processed by the vomeronasal (or accessory olfactory) system, which uses a special structure in the nose, the vomeronasal organ (VNO), to receive chemical signals. The neural connections between the VNO and the brain are separate from those of the main olfactory system, whose processing of odorants triggers sensations of smell. But while the VNO does process many animal pheromone signals, not all animal pheromones work through the VNO. Conversely, not all chemical signals transmitted via the VNO quality as pheromones. For example, garter snakes detect a chemical signal from earthworms—one of their favorite foods—via the VNO, and they use this signal to track their prey.
According to the passage, the fact that pheromones are processed by the VNO in many animal species has been taken as evidence of which of the following?
- A The accessory and main olfac-Tory systems are not separate
- B Odorants and pheromones are not distinct types of chemicals.
- C Odorants and pheromones both elicit a specific behavioral response.
- D Pheromones do not trigger conscious sensations of smell.
- E Pheromones aid animals in tracking prey.