Logical Reasoning

PT103 · S1 · Q20 There is strong evidence that the

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There is strong evidence that the cause of migraines (severe recurrent headaches) is not psychological but instead is purely physiological.

Given that ...

We think the cause of migraines is purely physiological (not psychological).

Why is it that ...

Several studies find that people who have migraines tend to rank higher on the psychological anxiety score?

Evaluate / Goal

If we believed that psychological anxiety caused migraines, then we'd expect people high on the anxiety scale to have more than average migraines.

We don't believe that psychological anxiety causes migraines (we believe it's purely physiological). But it's still true that people higher on the anxiety scale have a higher than average number of migraines.

Maybe it's a reverse cause situation -- knowing your body is prone to migraines makes you be more prone to psychological anxiety.

Maybe it's connected to a third factor -- there's a genetic condition that predisposes people to both migraines and anxiety.

There's also potentially a distinction they're testing between professionally-treated for migraines vs. people who have migraines but don't get professional treatment for it.

20.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?

  1. People who have migraine headaches

    Reinforces Background

    The fact that relatives tend to share this trait suggests that migraines are hereditary, which underscores the background belief that migraines have a physiological basis. But this answer isn't doing anything to explain our curious foreground fact: why are people who are treated for migraines higher on the anxiety scale?

    1% picked this

  2. People who have migraine headaches

    Goes Against Background

    If we interpreted this answer to be saying that "emotional stress causes the migraines", then we'd potentially have a storyline for why people with migraines rank high on the anxiety scale. But that would mean that migraines are caused sometimes by psychological factors (emotional stress), so we'd be going against the background fact, not reconciling it with the surprising fact.

    17% picked this

  3. Correct

    People who rate higher on

    Why this is right

    This answer is resolving the paradox by suggesting that, while anxiety doesn't cause you to have migraines, it does cause you to be more likely to seek professional treatment for migraines. So if the more-anxious migraine sufferers are more likely to seek professional treatment, then there will be a correlation between being high-anxiety and getting treated for migraines.

    Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    76% picked this

  4. Of the many studies done

    No impact

    We are accepting as a given that psychological things do not cause migraines. So whether studies that say they do have been widely publicized or only moderately publicized or kept mostly secret, who cares? We're not listening to these studies. We need a way to explain a correlation between being professionally treated for migraines and being high-anxiety.

    4% picked this

  5. Most people who have migraines

    Nothing About Anxiety

    This doesn't mention anxiety, so it doesn't seem to be giving us any way to explain a correlation between being treated for migraines and being high-anxiety.

    2% picked this

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