SECTION 3Directions: Each passage in this group is followed by questions based on its cont
SECTION 3
Directions: Each passage in this group is followed by questions based on its content. After reading a passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Homeostasis refers to any process, such as negative feedback, that living
things employ to maintain stable conditions indispensable for survival, and
which arises from balances between forces and factors mutually influencing each
Line other. Disturbance, or departure from equilibrium is of more consequence than
(5) negative feedback: systems cannot correct themselves without straying. A car
and its driver, for instance, can be regarded as a homeostatic system seeking to
keep the car moving on track. Thus, if the car skids, the driver automatically
responds by quickly steering the wheel in the opposite direction, but such
abrupt negative feedback usually overcorrects. Likewise, if the magnitude of
(10) correction is commensurate with the disturbance that triggered it, the
correction may become an impressed change in the direction opposite to that of
the original disturbance. Each feedback is of lesser magnitude than the last, so
that as the oscillations of the system dampen, negative feedback achieves its
goal in both artificial and natural systems.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
A.describe in detail how the principles of homeostasis apply to living things
B.propose a modification in the most widely accepted theory of homeostasis
C.compare and contrast the role of positive and negative feedback in maintaining various applied systems
D.discuss the concept of homeostasis in the abstract and relate some of its most important principles
E.provide examples of systems which are ruled by the principle of homeostasis