Self-study
Conclusion Eating turmeric, a spice commonly found in curries, probably helps prevent Alzheimer's disease. ████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ████████████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████████████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that turmeric helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Why? First, because of a correlation: people in India eat lots of turmeric, and very few get Alzheimer’s disease. Second, because of turmeric’s effect on the brain: the curcumin it contains reduces the buildup of amyloid proteins that characterize Alzheimer’s disease, at least in animals.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes eating turmeric makes more curcumin available for breaking down amyloid proteins in the brain, thus reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. This means assuming curcumin has the same effect on amyloid proteins in humans that it does in animals. She also assumes the correlation in India—more people eat turmeric and fewer get Alzheimer’s disease—is because turmeric consumption reduces a person’s chances of Alzheimer’s disease, and not for some other reason.
5.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
Rosemary and ginger, █████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████
This weakens the argument. It suggests rosemary and ginger, not turmeric, could be responsible for the low rates of Alzheimer’s disease in India.
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).
b
Many scientists believe ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██████ ████ █ ██████
This weakens the argument. It implies breaking down amyloid proteins will not reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, casting doubt on the stated benefit of curcumin.
c
The proportion of ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████
This weakens the argument. It suggests fewer people get Alzheimer’s in India because fewer belong to the at-risk age group, not because of their turmeric consumption.
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).
d
None of the █████ █████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███████ █████████
This has no effect on the argument. It’s equally possible these other compounds in turmeric could promote or inhibit the accumulation of amyloid proteins.
e
The parts of █████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ █████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████████
This strengthens the correlation between high turmeric intake and low rates of Alzheimer’s disease. It implies the correlation extends to regions within India, making it more pronounced.
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.