Question

review the claim and the two pieces of evidence.
learning to play an instrument can help you succeed academically.
evidence a: a long - term study at a top research university showed that children who had learned to play an instrument in the past year had greater self - confidence than those who had not.
evidence b: researchers at boston childrens hospital scanned the brains of musicians and non - musicians while they completed various tasks. musicians showed increased brain activity in areas that could strengthen school performance.
why is evidence b stronger than evidence a?
evidence a does not directly support the claim. it does not show that playing an instrument improves brain performance or intelligence.
evidence a does not come from a credible source. the results of this study are unreliable and cannot tell us anything about the effects of learning to play an instrument.

Explanation:

To determine why Evidence B is stronger, we analyze the relevance of each evidence to the claim ("Learning to play an instrument can help you succeed academically").

• Evidence A focuses on self - confidence, which is not directly related to academic success (like brain performance for school).
• Evidence B shows musicians have increased brain activity in areas that strengthen school performance, directly linking playing an instrument to academic - related brain function. The second option about Evidence A's source is incorrect as a "top research university" is credible, and the issue is relevance, not source credibility.

Answer:

The first option (Evidence A does not directly support the claim. It does not show that playing an instrument improves brain performance or intelligence.)