LSAT 151 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Researchers put two electrodes in a pool …

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. Researchers created a weak electric field when a dolphin swam near electrodes.
2. When the field was activated, the dolphin swam away. Otherwise, it behaved normally.
3. Researchers then covered the dolphin’s vibrissal crypts on its snout.
4. With the crypts covered, the dolphin no longer reacted to the electric field.

ANALYSIS: It seems like the vibrissal crypts are how the dolphins tell there’s an electric field. When they weren’t covered, they reacted to the field. When they were covered, they didn’t react to it. That’s the reasonable inference to make here.

___________

1. Nothing is said about what dolphins encountered in the wild.
2. CORRECT. See above. The dolphins reacted when the crypts weren’t covered, but stopped reacting when the crypts were covered. So they’re probably using the crypts to sense the field.
3. There’s no suggestion that the researchers trained them to avoid the fields. The dolphins seemed to be doing it themselves.
4. The electric field may be detected through the crypts, but we are not told it disrupts or damages their normal functioning.
5. This says the opposite of what the evidence suggests. Under normal circumstances, the dolphin did seem able to sense the electric field.