LSAT 120 – Section 4 – Question 10

LSAT 120 - Section 4 - Question 10

October 2005

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Target time: 1:10

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT120 S4 Q10	+LR +Exp	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Causal Reasoning +CausR Link Assumption +LinkA	A 1% 152 B 93% 162 C 4% 156 D 0% 150 E 1% 152	124 134 144	+Easiest	146.628 +SubsectionMedium

J.Y.’s explanation

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Researcher: All defects in short-term memory are caused by a malfunction of a part of the brain called the hippocampus. In short-term memory, the mind holds a piece of information for only a few moments, after which it is either stored in long-term memory or forgotten. Learning is the accumulation of new information in long-term memory. Thus, whenever a child exhibits a learning deficit, the hippocampus is malfunctioning.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The researcher concludes that whenever a child exhibits a learning deficit, the hippocampus is malfunctioning. Why? Because, if memory fails to work correctly, it leads to a learning deficit. And all short-term memory failures are caused by hippocampus malfunctions.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing sufficiency and necessity. The author implicitly argues that hippocampus memory malfunctions always lead to learning deficits. Therefore, learning deficits are always the result of hippocampus malfunctions.
The problem is that we don’t know that—there could be learning deficits that are the result of factors other than hippocampus malfunctions.

draws a general conclusion based on too small a sample of learning deficits

We have no indication that the researcher’s sample size of learning deficits is insufficient.

presumes, without giving justification, that all learning deficits in children involve short-term memory

The author has to presume this: if he doesn’t, there could be learning deficits not caused by memory problems, and therefore not necessarily caused by hippocampus malfunctions.

presumes, without giving justification, that short-term memory is disabled whenever the hippocampus is disabled

This is the reverse of what the author presumes. Namely, he thinks that the hippocampus is disabled whenever short-term memory is disabled.

fails to quantify precisely the length of time during which the mind holds a piece of information in short-term memory

The precise length of time is irrelevant; all the author needs to establish for his argument is that the length of time is limited.

takes for granted that learning deficits in adults have a cause unrelated to the cause of learning deficits in children

The author doesn’t presume this—learning deficits in adults aren’t mentioned here—so it can’t be the flaw.

LSAT 120 – Section 4 – Question 10

LSAT 120 - Section 4 - Question 10

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

J.Y.’s explanation

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 120 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

Leave a Reply Cancel