#12- Researcher: We studied two groups of subjects over a

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (E)

Here we have another fact set followed, somewhat predictably, by a Must Be True question. The researcher tells us that exercise slightly raises body temperature, that extra heat induces deeper sleep, and that those who engaged in afternoon exercise within the study got more nighttime deep sleep than did those in the control group. Answer choice (E) is supported by the researcher’s point that “extra heat induces deeper sleep.”

Answer choice (A): This answer is unsupported by the researcher, who provides that afternoon exercise is conducive to deep sleep—not necessarily required.

Answer choice (B): This answer is incorrect because the researcher does not reference morning exercise at all; there is no basis for comparison of the effects of morning versus afternoon exercise.

Answer choice (C): This answer is taken out of contention with the word “best.” Afternoon exercise appears to be one way to increase deep sleep, but there is no evidence that it is the best.

Answer choice (D): This answer concerns the control group, and all we know of this group is that they engaged in little or no exercise during the study. The stimulus provides no information about participants respective pre-bedtime body temperatures, so this answer choice is unsupported.

Answer choice (E): As explained above, this is the correct answer choice.

[cwu]

I had a question about Lesson 1, #8 in the Must be True Questions. I don't really understand why the answer is (e).

The stimulus describes an experiment in which those who exercised in the afternoon had 33% more deep sleep than those who did not. It continues to explain that this is because exercise in the afternoon cause increased heat "until after bedtime" and this heat (probably) caused the deeper sleep.

To quote verbatim: "Exercising in the afternoon tends to raise body temperature slightly until after bedtime, and this extra heat induces deeper sleep".

More specifically - "this extra heat", or increased heat from the point of exercise (the afternoon) until after bedtime (probably) caused deep sleep.

Answer choice (e) explains that taking a warm bath (and raising body temperature) right before bedtime will likely increase deep sleep.

I don't understand how increased heat affects bodily functions over time nor do I understand the mechanism in which increased heat causes deep sleep. But I feel that without knowledge about how heat affects the body or how it affects the process of deep sleep, to assume that it was specifically the heat just prior to sleep that (probably) caused increased deep sleep from an experiment that showed an increased level of heat from the afternoon until after bedtime (probably) caused deep sleep, is a leaping assumption. Basically the stimulus proposes a cause and effect scenario and (e) changes the cause and assumes the effect will happen.

Stimulus:
Cause: increased body temperature from afternoon until after bedtime
Effect: increased deep sleep

(e):
Cause: increased body temperature just prior to sleep
Effect: increased deep sleep

I understand that the other answer choices are incorrect due to leaping assumptions, but it seems like (e) also uses a leaping assumption and is therefore also incorrect...

[Jon Denning]

This is one of those questions that can cause people a lot of problems for, I think, two key reasons. One, people often feel that a warm bath is outside the scope of the stimulus, or new information. However, since it's connected to the idea of raising body temperature and deep sleep, it falls under the umbrella of what the stimulus is discussing, and can be reasonably inferred from the information given.

Second, I think people often struggle with this one because they try to understand the actual physiological mechanisms behind the situation described. That's a serious mistake, as the test makers provide you with EVERYTHING you need to answer the question and bringing in your own knowledge or presumptions is only going to cloud the issue. Remember, in Must Be True the stimulus is taken as fact: no matter what it says, accept it as true.

So for this question when you're told that raising body temperature before bedtime leads to increased deep sleep, that's simply a truth that you can believe. Whether it's medically/scientifically correct is irrelevant. And that's what shows that E is correct: a warm bath raises body temperature, which we're told leads to increased deep sleep, so it's strongly supported that a warm bath will PROBABLY lead to increased deep sleep (note how they soften the language a bit to make it even easier to defend).

This is one of my favorite questions in this lesson because it illustrates beautifully how information can be supported without necessarily being explicitly mentioned, as well as the danger of viewing stimuli through the lens of your own knowledge and experience. Hope that explanation helps you understand the reasoning behind this one, and also provides a bit of insight into how the test makers will try to trip you up on test day.

JD

[cwu]

My issue is more of a timing issue. Answer choice E in my mind is like having a stimulus that says if you apply heat to a pot of water for 6 minutes you will have boiling water at the 6th minute, and having an answer choice that says if you apply heat in the 5th minute you will have boiling water at 6th minute.

Similarly this stimulus shows that an increased body temperature that spans from afternoon to until after bedtime will cause deeper sleep and answer choice (e) shows that if you increase body temperature only in the moments just before you go to sleep you will have deeper sleep. (e) incorrectly makes an assumption about the necessary timing of that increased body temperature that the stimulus does not provide.

To quote verbatim: "Exercising in the afternoon tends to raise body temperature slightly until after bedtime, and this extra heat induces deeper sleep".

"this heat" refers to the heat mentioned in the prior clause - the raised body temperature that spans from the afternoon until after bedtime. No where in the stimulus does it indicate that if you increased body temperature specifically at the moments prior to sleep does deeper sleep occur. Therefore it seems like (e) is lacking an important assumption on the necessary timing of the increased body temperature. Without this assumption (e) does not seem logically valid.

[Jon Denning]

I think you're overthinking it. Number one, we're just looking for the answer "most strongly supported," and that language allows for a degree of forgiveness when it comes to perfection when it comes to what the correct answer says. Secondly, what we know from the stimulus is that raising body temperature before bedtime induces deeper sleep. So E is fine in inferring that it is "likely" that a bath that raises body temperature will lead to increased deep sleep. Again, the idea of likelihood is soft enough that E is alright.

[hanvan]

In the power score LSAT course lesson 1, page 1-13, question 8, the answer is E. I thought the phrase " taking a warm bath " is a new information. Why this is a correct answer? Please help!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Hanvan,

Since the answer choice defines "taking a warm bath" as an action that raises your body temperature, and--according to the stimulus--raising body temperature tends to promote deeper sleep, it is reasonable to conclude that taking a warm bath will have a similar effect to exercise in promoting deeper sleep. So in that sense, taking a warm bath only appears to be new information. But because the action falls under the category of actions described in the stimulus (i.e. actions that raise your body temperature), we wouldn't consider their introduction in the answer choices to be "new information."

This is a question from our lesson (not homework), your instructor will most likely talk about it in class.

Good luck!

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Hanvan,

Let me highlight one point in Nikki's excellent advice. He made a comment that is particularly applicable to the idea of Must Be True questions and new information:

But because the action falls under the category of actions described in the stimulus...

This concept is one that I sometimes call the Idea Umbrella, and it can really cause problems if you don't understand it. The key is to consider what elements have been discussed, and whether they have implications that could affect ideas or items that fall under the umbrella of the element under discussion.

For example, let's say you have a stimulus that discusses cats. Well then, an answer that addresses black cats could possibly be correct (it depends on the wording) even though black cats were not specifically mentioned in the stimulus. Make sense?

I hope that helps. Thanks!

[mfranco]

This is a Must be true question and it is one of the in class (online) problems that we did not cover so technically it is considered homework...
I chose answer choice D for this question. Now that I look at it, I clearly see how answer choice E is the best answer but I am not satisfied with answer choice E and it concerns me for future questions.
How can we assume that raising body temperature by a warm bath has the same effect as raising body temperature through exercise? Raising body temperature through exercise is something that happens internally; I mean you can even do this with enough exercise in a very cold room or in the winter for example. Taking a warm bath is a result of an external effect that after heats you up on the inside. To explain further; one is inside to out of your body and the other is outside to in of your body. Also, how can we throw out the possibilities that drenching yourself in water might not actually wake you up? For instance, I take a shower every morning because it helps me wake up and I undoubtedly prefer to use warm water....
Before writing this I realized that my argument can (possibly) be used as a weakener to the argument and maybe I might be just looking to into the actual stimulus but it is my nature to be skeptical. Please give thorough answer to all questions, thank you.
~Mike

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Mike,

This is an excellent question. Of course, we cannot assume that taking a warm bath right before bedtime would increase your body temperature and thus improve deep-sleep. This is exactly why they worded answer choice (E) the way they did: "Raising body temperature slightly by taking a warm bath just before bedtime will likely result in increased deep-sleep." By specifying that taking a warm bath does raise body temperature, test-takers circumvented the objection you brought up. Since extra heat induces deeper sleep, answer choice (E) describes an outcome that is supported by the researcher's argument.

To follow up on your second point, it does not matter whether raising body temperature by a warm bath follows a different pathway or occurs for a different reason than raising body temperature through exercise. If the researcher's statements are to be taken as true (e.g. "extra heat induces deeper sleep"), we can infer that any activity that raises body temperature (including illness, for instance) would produce the same effect of deeper sleep.

Hope this answers your question!