Comparison and Contrast - Text 1

“They” at the beginning of this sentence refers to chimpanzees. The writer’s research team found that the working memory in chimpanzees and seven-year-old children were similar (comparable to). (For details about how they discovered this, read the full article.

"Working memory is central to our mental lives. It allows us to keep track of a series of previous events or actions. For instance, we use it to add up the cost of our shopping or to remember the beginning of this sentence at its end. Some scientists argue that, compared to other animals, it is particularly developed in humans. But how do chimpanzees, one of our closest relatives, compare?" "Working memory has been repeatedly invoked as one of the key aspects that separate humans from their closest living relatives. But our study provides evidence that chimpanzees possess similar working memory abilities to humans. They’re able to perform at a level comparable to seven-year-old children in a working memory task that requires them to constantly update their memory." "The study revealed key similarities between chimpanzee and human working memory. The best-performing chimpanzees remembered at least four items; one young chimpanzee remembered more than seven. They used both the appearance of the boxes as well as their position to remember their previous choices. Another similarity with people is that we typically perform worse in working memory tests if we have to do another, distracting task. For example, keeping a new telephone number in mind for a moment is much harder for us when we are in a conversation at the same time. Likewise, if the chimpanzees had to perform a second, similar task in parallel, their performance declined. But there were also differences between human working memory and the chimpanzees’". (Völter, n.d.)

Chimpanzees’ working memory is remarkably similar to our own

The following text is an example of a comparison-contrast format. It is an excerpt from an article in "The Conversation” by Christoph Völter from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, and you can access the full article here. Mouse over the page to see how this text is structured.

"Another similarity" introduces one of the key similarites discussed in this paragraph. This is the problem we have of remembering when we are distracted by another task. It seems that chimpanzees have this problem too. The connecting word is “Likewise”. "Likewise" is another word often found in comparison texts to indicate similarity.

Chimpanzees’ working memory is remarkably similar to our own

Völter, C. (n.d.). Chimpanzees’ working memory is remarkably similar to our own. Retrieved August 25, 2019, from The Conversation website: http://theconversation.com/chimpanzees-working-memory-is-remarkably-similar-to-our-own-121584

Comparison - Contrast

The second and third sentences in this paragraph give information which refers to the study which the research team conducted. So you need to read the original article to understand this. Essentially they found that chimpanzees had good working memory because they coud remember where a number of items were hidden, in the same way way that humans can.

The word "separate" in this sentence tells us we are looking at a difference; not a similarity. The writer is saying that, in the past, working memory has been seen as something which makes humans different from our "closest living relatives" i.e. chimpanzees.

The first indication that this text might contain comparison - contrast elements is the word "similar" in the title. "Similar" or "similarly" are common words in these texts. In fact, "similar" occurs three times in this text, along with "similarity" and similarities".

This text is a comparison and contrast text. Until now we have mainly been concerned with similarities. In the last section the writer addresses differences. He introduces this idea in the last sentence of this paragraph: "There were also differences ..." In fact, the last section is entitled "Differences". You should read the last paragraph of the article and identify the main difference between humans and chimpanzees regarding working memory. 

“Key” means important. This short sentence is a good example of a topic sentence. We know that the rest of the paragraph will tell us more about these similarities.  "Similarity" or "similarities" and words often found in comparison texts, as you would expect.

The word "But" at the begining of this sentence is important. It shows that there is a contrast between the idea in the previous sentence (humans are different because of different working memory) and the evidence from the writers research team that working memory in humans and chimpanzees is similar.

In this paragraph the writer makes it clear that that the text is about comparison, and that this comparison is between the working memory of humans and the working memory of other animals, and in this case specifically that of chimpanzees. "Comparison", "compared to", "compare", "comparable" are all words which are often found in these types of texts, and compared to and compare appear in the last two sentences of this opening paragraph.

“They” at the beginning of this sentence refers to chimpanzees. The writer’s research team found that the working memory in chimpanzees and seven-year-old children were similar (comparable to).