Question

studies have found that when looking at other peoples eyes, humans tend to perceive dilated pupils positively and constricted pupils negatively. noting that a dark iris—the colored portion surrounding the pupil—is hard to distinguish from the black of the pupil (and thereby affects the apparent size) and that many domestic dogs have dark irises, akitsugu konno et al. showed close - up images of dogs faces to human participants and asked them to rate the dogs traits and their own attitudes toward the dogs. their findings suggest that which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement? a) differences in dogs pupil size may elicit a stronger response in humans than differences in peoples pupil size do, as participants responses to the images when dogs pupils were actually large were indistinguishable from participants responses when dogs pupils only appeared to be large due to iris color. b) iris color in domestic dogs may be an adaptation to elicit positive responses from humans, as participants responded more negatively to images of dogs whose iris colors can make pupils appear large than they did to images of dogs without such iris colors. c) humans responses to pupil size in other people may extend to dogs, as participants responded more positively to images of dogs whose iris colors were likely to make their pupils appear large than they did to images of dogs whose iris colors were unlikely to have that effect. d) differences in dogs pupil size may have no effect on human perception, as participants did not show a clear preference for images of dogs with larger pupils regardless of iris color.

Explanation:

The passage first mentions that humans have positive or negative perceptions of pupil - size in other people's eyes. Then it describes an experiment with dog images. Option C correctly connects humans' response to pupil size in people to their response to dog images, where participants responded more positively to dogs with iris colors that made pupils look larger. This aligns with the idea that the human - pupil perception may extend to dogs. Option A compares human and dog pupil - size responses in a way not supported by the data. Option B has the wrong direction of response (negatively instead of positively). Option D contradicts the idea presented in the passage.

Answer:

C. humans’ responses to pupil size in other people may extend to dogs, as participants responded more positively to images of dogs whose iris colors were likely to make their pupils appear large than they did to images of dogs whose iris colors were unlikely to have that effect.