LSAT 156 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q22

LR Question 22 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Researcher: Experiences that are accompanied by increased secretions …

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: Frightening experiences are remembered more clearly than non-frightening ones.

REASONING: Experiences with increased adrenaline are remembered more clearly, and frightening experiences involve increased adrenaline.

ANALYSIS: The argument can be mapped like this:

Fear -> Adrenaline -> better memory

To weaken, you want to break that connection. The easiest way is to show that adrenaline isn’t unique to scary experiences.

If other kinds of experiences also trigger adrenaline, then you can’t say fear is what explains the better memory. It might just be adrenaline more generally.

We want an answer to say that something other than fear produces adrenaline, which means memory may not be connected to fear at all. It’s just adrenaline.

___________

1. We don’t know how intensity relates to frightening vs. non-frightening experiences.
2. This gives another factor (desires), but it doesn’t show the adrenaline explanation is wrong or incomplete.
3. CORRECT. If pleasurable experiences also involve increased adrenaline, then adrenaline isn’t unique to fear, and the argument can’t conclude that frightening experiences are remembered better specifically.
4. How common frightening experiences are doesn’t affect how well they are remembered.
5. This weakens the link between fear and adrenaline in some cases, but it doesn’t challenge the main idea that fear is what helps you remember.