Self-study
Researcher: Support All defects in short-term memory are caused by a malfunction of a part of the brain called the hippocampus. ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ █████ █ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ █ ███ ████████ █████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████ ████████ █ █████ ████████ █ ████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The researcher concludes that whenever a child exhibits a learning deficit, the hippocampus is malfunctioning. Why? Because, if memory fails to work correctly, it leads to a learning deficit. And all short-term memory failures are caused by hippocampus malfunctions.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing sufficiency and necessity. The author implicitly argues that hippocampus memory malfunctions always lead to learning deficits. Therefore, learning deficits are always the result of hippocampus malfunctions.
The problem is that we don’t know that—there could be learning deficits that are the result of factors other than hippocampus malfunctions.
10.
The reasoning in the researcher's ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ████████
a
draws a general ██████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████
We have no indication that the researcher’s sample size of learning deficits is insufficient.
b
presumes, without giving ██████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ██████
The author has to presume this: if he doesn’t, there could be learning deficits not caused by memory problems, and therefore not necessarily caused by hippocampus malfunctions.
c
presumes, without giving ██████████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████
This is the reverse of what the author presumes. Namely, he thinks that the hippocampus is disabled whenever short-term memory is disabled.
d
fails to quantify █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ████ █████ █ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ ██████████ ██████
The precise length of time is irrelevant; all the author needs to establish for his argument is that the length of time is limited.
e
takes for granted ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ █ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████
The author doesn’t presume this—learning deficits in adults aren’t mentioned here—so it can’t be the flaw.