LSAT 11 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q16

LR Question 16 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Body temperature varies over a 24-hour period, with a …

QUESTION TYPE: Must Be True

FACTS:

1. Body temperature varies daily and it’s lowest around 4-5am.
2. Speed of reaction varies with body temperature. When body temp is low, so is speed.
3. If low temp caused slow reaction, then artificially raising body temp at 4-5am should increase speed.
4. But in testing, speed does not increase when body temp is artificially raised.

ANALYSIS: This is worth reading a couple of times to get the argument clear. The author is proposing a hypothesis: does body temperature affect reaction speed?

It’s a reasonable hypothesis, because body temperature and reaction speed vary together. However, if you artificially make someone warmer, their reaction speed doesn’t increase. So, it seems like temperature isn’t what controls reaction speed.

___________

1. The stimulus doesn’t test whether slow reaction causes low body temp. That relationship is never investigated.
2. Again, the stimulus doesn’t claim reaction speed causes body temp.
3. CORRECT. This matches the logic of the experiment. The idea that low temp causes slow reaction was tested and it failed.
4. This was the original hypothesis, but the evidence challenges it.
5. The stimulus tells us the opposite: raising temp did not increase speed. So this is directly contradicted.