LSAT 143 – Section 3 – Question 06

LSAT 143 - Section 3 - Question 06

June 2015

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT143 S3 Q06
+LR
Strengthen +Streng
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
3%
157
B
94%
164
C
0%
146
D
1%
153
E
1%
156
128
137
146
 +Easier 147.721 +SubsectionMedium

If newly hatched tobacco hornworms in nature first feed on plants from the nightshade family, they will not eat leaves from any other plants thereafter. However, tobacco hornworms will feed on other sorts of plants if they feed on plants other than nightshades just after hatching. To explain this behavior, scientists hypothesize that when a hornworm’s first meal is from a nightshade, its taste receptors become habituated to the chemical indioside D, which is found only in nightshades, and after this habituation nothing without indioside D tastes good.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
Scientists hypothesize that when a hornworm’s first meal is from a nightshade, its taste receptors become habituated to indioside D, and afterward anything without indioside D doesn’t taste good. This is based on the fact that newly hatched hornworms that first feed on nightshades don’t eat leaves from non-nightshades afterward, whereas newly hatched hornworms that first feed on non-nightshades are open to eating non-nightshades afterward.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there isn’t another explanation for the observed diet patterns of hornworms. For example, what if there’s some other chemical besides indioside D that might be the reason hornworms that eat nightshades prefer nightshades and don’t eat non-nightshades? Or what if the hornworms don’t necessarily care about the taste of nightshades, but become physically addicted to it, without regard to taste?

A
Tobacco hornworms that first fed on nightshade leaves show no preference for any one variety of nightshade plant over any other.
We’re concerned with the consumption of nightshades vs. non-nightshades. Preferences or the lack of preferences within the nightshades has no clear impact.
B
If taste receptors are removed from tobacco hornworms that first fed on nightshade leaves, those hornworms will subsequently feed on other leaves.
This corroborates the theory that taste receptors are part of the explanation for the observed diet patterns.
C
Tobacco hornworm eggs are most commonly laid on nightshade plants.
Where the eggs are laid has no clear impact. We’re concerned with the diet patterns of newly hatched nightshades and what explains the distaste for non-nightshades among the worms that first feed on nightshades.
D
Indioside D is not the only chemical that occurs only in nightshade plants.
This weakens the argument by suggesting there may be another chemical responsible for the worms’ preference for nightshades after first feeding on nightshades.
E
The taste receptors of the tobacco hornworm have physiological reactions to several naturally occurring chemicals.
This doesn’t help connect taste receptors to habituation to nightshades or to the chemical indioside D. We also don’t know the significance of a “physiological reaction.” Does that mean the worms can taste chemicals? We don’t know.

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LSAT PrepTest 143 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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