Q5 - Brain-scanning technology provides

[ohthatpatrick]

What does the Question Stem tell us?
ID the Conclusion

Break down the Stimulus:
Conclusion: In order for brain-scanning to give us useful data, we have to be able to trust the verbal reports of the people being brain-scanned.
Evidence: If there's a mismatch between what the subject reports and what he actually thinks, then the brain-scan data wouldn't really be accurate data about the right thoughts.

Any prephrase?
Whenever you're doing an ID the Conclusion question, remind your brain that the Conclusion will almost always be in one of two places: 1. The 1st sentence (and the rest of the argument unpacks that claim) 2. The author's rebuttal to some person/claim/idea (usually prefaced by "but/yet/however". This one is a hybrid. It's not the first sentence. But it is an opinion that appears early, and the rest of the paragraph unpacks that opinion (a #1). However, it is also a #2 in the sense that it came with the "but/yet/however" clue.

Correct answer:
E

Answer choice analysis:
A) Never said. This is just reinforcing a feeling a student might have: "This guy seems pessimistic. He doesn't think brain-scans are gonna help cuz we can't trust the verbal reports of the subjects." We're not being asked "what ELSE might this author say?" We're being asked "What DID this author conclude?"

B) Never said. Same as (A).

C) Never said, trying to appeal to the same perceived-pessimism behind (A) and (B). The argument was totally descriptive and thus neutral.

D) Never said.

E) This matches the second sentence.

Takeaway/Pattern: When you prime your brain with the expectation that there's a 50% chance the FIRST sentence will actually be the conclusion, you're more receptive to hearing it as an opinion. In this case, the first sentence was a background fact, but the second was an opinion. If you hear it as an opinion, read the following sentences with the expectation that the author is going to try to convince you of that sentence.

#officialexplanation

[celene0007]

The first time I tried the problem I picked E, but when I was reviewing the question since I took a while to answer it, I was not satisfied with the conditional statement in the answer. In the stimulus, it seem that the "verbal reports given by the subjects while their brains are being scanned" part was a necessary condition not sufficient as it is in the answer choice.

Could someone help me with this question, please?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Notice the word "must" in the second sentence - the sentence that represents the main conclusion of the argument. The "must" introduces a requirement, just as "only if" introduces a requirement in answer choice (E).

The argument begins with a statement that brain scans are useful, then goes on to provide a requirement of that utility, and then goes on to justify why that requirement is true. The justification is of the second sentence - making that the conclusion.

Let's look at the incorrect answers on this one though:

(A) limits brain scans in a much more severe way than the argument suggests.
(B) is not necessarily true based on the argument.
(C) is a potential suggestion one would make based on the conclusion, but does not actually represent the conclusion.
(D) is true, but does not have any support for it in the argument, so cannot be the main conclusion.

Hope that helps!

[AbrahamS97]

I also picked E, but I can definitely see the potential for confusion. It's probably best to work from wrong to right here based on the question stem. C is clearly wrong because it's an inference answer choice in an ID the conclusion question.