We can now dismiss the widely held suspicion that sugar consumption of

Question

We can now dismiss the widely held suspicion that sugar consumption often exacerbates hyperactivity in children with attention deficit disorder. A scientific study of the effects of three common sugars—sucrose, fructose, and glucose—on children who have attention deficit disorder, with experimental groups each receiving a type of sugar in their diets and a control group receiving a sugar substitute instead of sugar, showed no statistically significant difference between the groups in thinking or behavior.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

(A) Only one of the three types of sugar used in the study was ever widely suspected of exacerbating hyperactivity.

(B) The consumption of sugar actually has a calming effect on some children.

(C) The consumption of some sugar substitutes exacerbates the symptoms of hyperactivity.

(D) The study included some observations of each group in contexts that generally tend to make children excited and active.

(E) Some children believe that they can tell the difference between the taste of sugar and that of sugar substitutes.

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

EXPLANATION FROM Fox LSAT

I’m just going to skip to the answer on this one. Let me present an argument with similar logic: “We can now dismiss the widely held suspicion that getting run over causes injury. Scientists studied the effects of three common accidents: being run over by a bus, run over by a train, and run over by a semi, with each group being run over in a different way and a control group being thrown off a building. The study showed no statistically significant difference in the number of broken bones.” Silly, right? Well, that’s exactly what the argument actually did, because it’s very possible that sugar substitutes have a crazy effect on kids.

That’s what C says, and that’s why C is the answer.

A) Who cares whether the different kinds of sugar were specifically suspected of causing hyperactivity? Even if they weren’t suspected, we could still study them, and make conclusions about them. This answer does nothing to weaken.

B) This would only strengthen the argument. We were looking for a weakener.

C) Yep.

D) I think this only strengthens the argument by showing that the study was thoughtfully constructed and included environments where the kids were likely to get crazy.

E) So what? The issue isn’t taste. The issue is whether sugar causes hyperactivity. Also note that the “some children” in this answer only really means “one or more children,” which is pretty lame. I doubt that one kid could possibly ruin the argument.

Our answer is C.

Nidzo · Answer

A) Does not weaken the argument nor is it relevant.  Incorrect

B) Strengthens the argument somewhat, but also is irrelevant as the argument centers around the effects of sugar on children with attention deficit disorder.  Incorrect

C) This would mean that the control group was not truly a control as the sugar substitute could have had similar if not identical effects as the other sugars.  Correct

D) As this occurred to all of the groups it would have an affect on the outcome.  Incorrect

E) Irrelevant. Their belief would not impact anything on the study.  Incorrect

ANSWER C

Jaidude · Answer

How I solved this question 
 Conclusion/ Authors opinion  and   premise/Fact

We can now dismiss the widely held suspicion that sugar consumption often exacerbates hyperactivity in children with attention deficit disorder.   A scientific study of the effects of three common sugars—sucrose, fructose, and glucose—on children who have attention deficit disorder, with experimental groups each receiving a type of sugar in their diets and a control group receiving a sugar substitute instead of sugar, showed no statistically significant difference between the groups in thinking or behavior.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

The argument states that sugar consumption does not cause hyperactivity in children with ADD, we have to choose choices that if true state that sugar consumption does cause hyperactivity!

(A) Only one of the three types of sugar used in the study was ever widely suspected of exacerbating hyperactivity.  distortion

(B) The consumption of sugar actually has a calming effect on some children.  LOL what nahhh

(C) The consumption of some sugar substitutes exacerbates the symptoms of hyperactivity.   The correct answer as sugar substitutes were used in the experiment

(D) The study included some observations of each group in contexts that generally tend to make children excited and active.  irrelavant

(E) Some children believe that they can tell the difference between the taste of sugar and that of sugar substitutes.  distortion

100mitra · Answer

Correct option B

We can now dismiss the widely held suspicion that 
 Argument : sugar consumption often exacerbates hyperactivity in children with attention deficit disorder.
 Evidence : A scientific study of 
the effects of three common sugars—sucrose, fructose, and glucose—
on children who have attention deficit disorder, 
with experimental groups each receiving a type of sugar in their diets and 
a control group receiving a sugar substitute instead of sugar, 
 Experiment Conclusion : No statistically significant difference between the groups in thinking or behaviour.

Assumption : All children and Deficit disorder children are considered equal who consumption sugar and often exacerbates hyperactivity in children

Which one of the following, if true, would  most weaken the argument  above?

(A)  Only one of the three  types of sugar used in the study was ever widely 
suspected of exacerbating hyperactivity.
 Wrong:  Experiment was done on all 3 types of sugar; specific one type was not mentioned in the passage

(B) The consumption of sugar actually has a calming effect on  some children .
 Correct:  this counter the argument, as only sugar has exacerbates hyperactivity in children, some children without deficit disorder cannot effect this kind of problems, assumption weakens the argument.

(C) The consumption of some sugar substitutes exacerbates the symptoms of hyperactivity.
 Wrong:  Supports the conclusion

(D) The study included some observations of each group in contexts 
that generally tend to make children excited and active.
 Wrong:  No Details mentioned about it in passage, passage clearly mention on intake of sugar and its diet post which effects on children

(E) Some children believe 
that they can tell the  difference between the taste of sugar  and 
that of sugar substitutes
 wrong:  Experiment was to check effect of sugar on childrem

sivatx2 · Answer

To weaken the argument we need a reason that why the scientific study is inaccurate.

(A) Only one of the three types of sugar used in the study was ever widely suspected of exacerbating hyperactivity. 
 This just strengthen the argument. Eliminate

(B) The consumption of sugar actually has a calming effect on some children. 
 This does not broadly weakens as it applies to only some children with a positive impact. What about the rest of the other children? Was it negative or neutral effect on them? Eliminate

(C) The consumption of some sugar substitutes exacerbates the symptoms of hyperactivity. 
 This weakens the argument that sugar substitutes also have the same issue as regular sugar and hence we may not see any difference(which was the results of the scientific experiment). So the scientific experiment itself is inaccurate and hence option C is the best answer choice.

(D) The study included some observations of each group in contexts that generally tend to make children excited and active. 
 The information is inconclusive to weaken the argument. Eliminate

(E) Some children believe that they can tell the difference between the taste of sugar and that of sugar substitutes. 
 Taste is irrelevant to the argument. Eliminate

Its_me_aka_ak · Answer

how does C work? it says SOME sugar substitutes have the effect, but we do not know if those SOME were the ones used in the particular study

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Its_me_aka_ak

It's important to keep in mind that a Weaken merely has to introduce doubt about the validity of the conclusion. It will rarely disprove the argument definitively. So sure, we don't know which substitutes were used, but C still raises the possibility of an alternative explanation. Now we don't know for sure whether the kids who ate sugar were really just as calm as if they hadn't eaten sugar, or only as calm as other kids who were wound up from sugar substitutes.

sayan640 · Answer

KarishmaB   AjiteshArun  , Can you please provide your insight on this question ?

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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We can now dismiss the widely held suspicion that sugar consumption of

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