Self-study
A group of mountain climbers was studied to determine how they were affected by diminished oxygen in the air at high altitudes. ██ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ████████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the area of the brain controlling speech is not distinct from the area controlling other functions. He supports this by noting that the mountain climbers in the study slurred their speech, took longer to understand simple sentences, and showed poor judgment after climbing above 6,100 meters.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author concludes that the area of the brain controlling speech isn’t separate from the area controlling other functions because multiple brain functions worsened at high altitudes. He assumes that all these functions are controlled in the same area, ignoring the possibility that multiple areas could have been affected by the altitude.
In other words, the altitude might have impacted multiple distinct brain areas, or the entire brain, affecting both speech and judgment, even though they are controlled in distinct areas.
17.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████
a
the climbers' performance ██ ███████ ██████████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███████████ ████████ █████ ██████ ██████
If oxygen deprivation affected the climbers’ entire brains, then it’s possible that all of the affected functions are controlled in distinct areas of the brain and that oxygen deprivation is simply worsening them all at the same time.
b
the climbers' performance ██ ███████ ██████████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████
If the climbers’ speech, comprehension, and reasoning were better than average before the study, it wouldn’t change the fact that these functions worsened at higher altitudes. So, even if the author does overlook (B), it doesn’t describe a flaw in his argument.
c
the climbers showed █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██████████████ ███ █████████
We should expect that the climbers didn't all experience the exact same level of impairment. What’s important is that all the climbers still showed worsened performance in these functions, even if the impairment was at different levels.
d
some of the ███████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ██████
Even if some effects were apparent just before 6,100 meters, (D) doesn't change the fact that the climbers’ experienced worsened performance due to diminished oxygen at high altitudes.
e
many of the ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████
The climbers still all experienced worsened performance in speech, understanding, and judgement, regardless of whether some of them had special training for the climb.