Two days before the school's half-yearly break, Mrs. Iyer tells her Class XII section that she will hold a test on Monday on two chapters. Riya, who had been chatting and doodling all period, sits up at once and turns to the two chapters in her book; for the rest of the period she does not look up, even when the corridor gets noisy. Her friend Kabir reacts differently: his heart races, his hands go cold, the lines on the page seem to blur, and he cannot read past the first paragraph.
Which of the following best explains, in terms of the PASS model, why Riya and Kabir reacted differently to the same announcement?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Riya's arousal was at an optimal level and focused her attention; Kabir's arousal was too high and interfered with his attention
Option (1) Riya's arousal was at an optimal level and focused her attention; Kabir's arousal was too high and interfered with his attention — Correct. Riya, idle before, is roused by the news of the test and fixes on the chapters. That is an <strong>optimal level of arousal</strong>, which focuses attention on the relevant parts of a problem. Kabir's racing heart and cold hands show <strong>too much arousal</strong>, and too much arousal interferes with attention.
Option (2) Riya's arousal was low, which kept her calm enough to attend; Kabir's arousal was high, which upset his coding of the chapters — Incorrect. Riya's arousal did not stay low: the test news roused her from doodling into attending. Kabir's high arousal hurt his <strong>attention</strong>; and too little arousal would also have hurt attention.
Option (3) Riya moved straight to planning her study for the test; Kabir's planning failed, so he could not take in the chapters — Incorrect. <strong>Planning</strong> starts only after information is attended to and processed. It means setting goals, making a study schedule and checking whether the plan works. Neither student has reached this step in the case.
Option (4) Riya grasped the chapters through simultaneous processing; Kabir could take them in only by successive processing — Incorrect. <strong>Simultaneous processing</strong> joins ideas into one meaningful pattern; <strong>successive processing</strong> recalls information in a serial order. Both are coding processes. The two students differ at the earlier step of arousal and attention.
NCERT (2026-27): “Planning, Attention-arousal, and Simultaneous-successive (PASS) Model of Intelligence … |