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

[mfranco]

Yes it does answer my question, thank you. What mainly threw me off was the phrase in answer choice E - "just before bedtime" while the stimulus was refererring to afternoon exercise.

Also, I felt like we were ignoring the fact that warm water especially right before bed can actually have an adverse effect from what the argument states - "extra heat induces deeper sleep".

I felt like it was new information that is open to many weakeners but the answer like you said is worded very specifically to cover all their tracks. "Raising body temperature slightly"....."will likely result in increased deeper sleep". This answer choice clearly reflects the argument in the stimulus.

But if they were to say that "a warm bath induces deeper sleep" vs what is actually said I think it will not be a solid choice but obviously it will the best in comparison to the other answer choices. So it was tricky although at first seemed to be one of the easiest ones (at least for me), thanks again.

[lunsandy]

Hi Powerscore!

Dave, in an earlier post, said this question is considered an "idea umbrella." Does that mean if an argument talks about cats, and our answer choice talks about black cats then it is correct. So going from something larger in scope to something smaller scope is okay, but would not apply vice-versa because it would be considered out of scope. Such as, if the stimulus is talking about black cats, but a trap answer choice would talk about all animals- then that would be considered out of scope?

Thanks a lot!

[Adam Tyson]

Correct, lunsandy! We see that concept of Dave's "idea umbrella" in a lot of LR stimuli and answer choices. You may have come across a problem in one of our lessons about "sophisticated tools", and an answer choice (the correct one) talks about "advanced hunting weapons". Weapons are tools, so they fit under that idea umbrella, but many students don't see that at first because they imagine tools to be things found in a toolbox, like hammers and saws and wrenches, instead of in a gun safe or an archery supply store or on the local National Guard parade ground.

Another commonly tested idea umbrella is when the authors tell us something about "animals" and then makes a conclusion about "humans". On these, we have to check our egos at the door and accept that humans ARE animals! (Except for those who are vegetables, such as some politicians, or minerals, like my Uncle Rudy who is as dumb as a box of rocks).

What is true of all tests is true of the LSAT, but what is true of the LSAT is not necessarily true of all tests. What is true of all humans may not be true of all animals, but what is true of all animals is definitely true of all humans (and all black cats and all mauve velociraptors and yes, even my dear Uncle Rudy, bless his heart).

Well done, my friend! Keep it up!

[lunsandy]

Thanks Adam that was very helpful!

[chian9010]

Dear Powerscore,

I have a question about answer choice D. If we modified the answer to "no one in the control group experienced a rise in body temperature slightly until after bedtime" will it be a correct answer?

[Malila Robinson]

Hi Chian9010,
I'm not sure that would work grammatically, but what it sounds like you are suggesting is that the people in the control group would be experiencing a rise in body temperature after they were already in bed/possibly already asleep. And that goes beyond the info we are presented with in the stimulus which is talking about raising body temperature right before bedtime.

Hope that helps!
-Malila

[AspenHerman]

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."

Hi!! Sorry, I don't mean to belabor the point but I have a follow up on this. I understand the idea umbrella (humans are animals too), but no where in the the stimulus does it say that the experimental group specifically engaged in other actions that increased body temperature ... rather, it appears that they were only instructed to engage in exercise. Additionally, could it be reasonably assumed that the non-exercise group could have also engaged in taking warm baths right before bed, as they were only told not to exercise. That is my issue with E, since it was specifically said they engaged in other activities, only exercise, that the warm bath could not be accounted for in the study.

[AspenHerman]

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."

Hi!! Sorry, I don't mean to belabor the point but I have a follow up on this. I understand the idea umbrella (humans are animals too), but no where in the the stimulus does it say that the experimental group specifically engaged in other actions that increased body temperature ... rather, it appears that they were only instructed to engage in exercise. Additionally, could it be reasonably assumed that the non-exercise group could have also engaged in taking warm baths right before bed, as they were only told not to exercise. That is my issue with E, since it was specifically said they engaged in other activities, only exercise, that the warm bath could not be accounted for in the study.

So to finish my thought...I walked away and realized I never made my point... would this answer not qualify in the must be true category because it leaves to much open to question (as in, the restrictions on doing other body heat raising actives was not put in place, so we can only assume exercise is causing the effect on sleep).

As I attempt to think more deeply about this, if this was a strict Must Be True question, would E fail to qualify? But because most strongly supported questions allow for a shadow of a doubt to be introduced, we can side step the lack of "other activities" verbage I pointed out above, and allow for this one to be true?

Am I making sense????

Thank you!!

[Adam Tyson]

You're making sense, AspenHerman, no worries there! I think it's hard to see answer E as a Must Be True answer, but even if that was the stem we would have to select answer E because it is the best answer of the bunch.

The key is that the answer tells us that taking a warm bath raises body temp, so we don't need to guess about that. "Raising body temperature slightly by taking a warm bath" means that we're talking about a situation where that DOES happen, not just one where it might. Put that together with "extra heat induces deeper sleep" (notice that it is not exercise that does this - it is the extra body heat that is the direct cause), and the author would have to be committed to the idea that any similar rise in body temp would probably have the same effect. Otherwise, it's not the rise in temp that does it (at least, not by itself).

Also, bear in mind that the author has made that answer even more acceptable because of the use of "likely." The author isn't committed to a rise in body temp caused by a warm bath definitely leading to more deep sleep, but only to the likelihood of that being true.