LSAT 108 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q17

LR Question 17 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Two hundred randomly selected subjects were asked …

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. Group 1 (200 people) were asked if they’ve woken up, seemed paralyzed, with a sense of a strange presence in the room. 40% said yes.
2. Group 2/Control Group (200 people) were asked if they’ve woken up seemingly paralyzed. Only 14% said yes.

ANALYSIS: There’s a pretty big difference:

• 40% remembered being paralyzed when the question mentioned a strange presence.
• Only 14% remembered paralysis when the strange presence wasn’t mentioned.

So what’s most supported by these results? The best inference is that mentioning the strange presence made people more likely to remember or report the paralysis experience.

___________

1. The study doesn’t examine what causes paralysis. It only looks at how people respond to differently worded questions.
2. The control group was never asked about strange presences, so we have no idea how many of them had that experience.
3. The first group was asked: Have you ever awakened paralyzed with a strange presence? Saying “No” could mean they never woke up paralyzed, or they woke up paralyzed but without a strange presence. The 60% doesn’t necessarily mean they never experienced a strange presence
4. The groups consisted of different subjects. Nobody answered both questions, so we can’t compare anyone’s responses for consistency.
5. CORRECT. This is the inference we can make. Mentioning the accompanying circumstance (a strange presence in the room) was associated with a much higher rate of reporting the paralysis experience.