Self-study
Astronauts who experience weightlessness frequently get motion sickness. ███ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that astronauts’ frequent motion sickness is caused by their brains receiving conflicting information about the body’s motion. This is because astronauts see their own motion while in space, but their weightlessness tells their brains they’re not moving.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that conflicting information can in fact cause motion sickness. The author also assumes that conflicting information, rather than some other phenomenon that astronauts experience in space, is responsible for motion sickness.
18.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██████
a
During rough voyages ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ █████
When the passengers can see the water, they aren't receiving conflicting information: both their eyes and their bodies experience turbulence. This affirms the correlation between conflicting information and motion sickness, supporting the hypothesis.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
b
Many people who ███ ███████████ ████████ ██████████ ████████████ ███ ██████ █████████
This doesn't tell us if planes feature the same “conflicting information” phenomenon as space shuttles, so knowing that passengers sometimes get motion sickness doesn't help us.
c
Some automobile passengers █████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ █████████
In other words, motion sickness can occur even in the absence of conflicting information. This undermines the hypothesis, because it suggests that something else causes motion sickness.
d
People who have █████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████
People with different views should have a different degree of conflicting information. This tells us that they all get motion sickness equally, which undermines the connection between conflicting information and motion sickness.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
e
Some astronauts do ███ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ █████
The author never claims all astronauts get motion sickness. The fact that not all astronauts get motion sickness isn't relevant to what causes motion sickness when it does occur.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).