LSAT 144 – Section 2 – Question 12

LSAT 144 - Section 2 - Question 12

October 2015

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT144 S2 Q12
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
6%
161
B
81%
165
C
8%
159
D
0%
154
E
4%
154
136
147
158
 +Medium 148.975 +SubsectionMedium

In an experiment, two groups of mice—one whose diet included ginkgo extract and one that had a normal diet—were taught to navigate a maze. The mice whose diet included ginkgo were more likely to remember how to navigate the maze the next day than were the other mice. However, the ginkgo may not have directly enhanced memory. Other studies have found that ginkgo reduces stress in mice, and lowering very high stress levels is known to improve recall.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that ginkgo did not directly enhance the mice’s memories. This is because ginkgo lowers stress levels, and memory is enhanced when very high stress levels are reduced.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the mice in the experiment had very high stress levels. If this wasn’t the case, then the mice wouldn’t have benefited from the memory enhancement that stress reduction brings. The author also assumes that the two groups of mice who navigated the maze were in all respects equal. Some quirk in one of the groups could weaken the connection between ginkgo and memory.

A
The doses of ginkgo in the diet of the mice in the experiment were significantly higher than the doses that have been shown to reduce stress in mice.
If the doses were higher, then the mice surely would’ve gotten the stress-reducing benefits of ginkgo. In turn, this would’ve helped their recall.
B
Neither the mice who received the ginkgo nor the other mice in the experiment exhibited physiological signs of higher-than-normal stress.
Since none of the mice had higher-than-normal stress levels, the stress-relieving effects of ginkgo wouldn’t have improved recall. According to the author, those effects happen when stress levels are high.
C
Some chemical substances that reduce stress in mice also at least temporarily impair their memory.
Is ginkgo one of those substances? We don’t know.
D
Scientists have not yet determined which substances in ginkgo are responsible for reducing stress in mice.
We don’t care which substance in ginkgo is responsible for reducing stress. We simply care about the effects ginkgo has on mice.
E
The mice who received the ginkgo took just as long as the other mice to learn to navigate the maze.
We don’t care how long it took them to learn. We’re concerned with memory, so we care about how well they navigated the maze the second time.

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LSAT PrepTest 144 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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