Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT107 S4 Q11 Explanation

Sometimes when their trainer gives

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsStrengthen

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

Sometimes when their trainer gives the hand signal for “Do something creative together," two dolphins circle a pool in tandem and then leap through the air simultaneously. On other occasions the same signal elicits synchronized backward swims or tail-waving. These behaviors are not simply learned responses to a given that may include the use of language and forethought.

What this question is testing

Strengthen

Argument

Trainers give a hand signal that means "do something creative together." Two dolphins sometimes circle and leap, sometimes swim backward in sync, sometimes do tail-waves. The author concludes this isn't just learned response — these dolphins are doing something more cognitive, maybe even using language and planning.

Evaluate

The skeptical worry: maybe the dolphins are just rotating through a small fixed menu of trained behaviors. That would be normal training, not high-level cognition. To strengthen the argument, we need evidence that the dolphins are producing genuinely new behaviors — things outside any fixed menu. That points to invention, not memorization.

Goal

Find an answer that confirms novel behavior — that dolphins regularly come up with things that weren't trained.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
11.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens

Answer choices

  1. No Impact4% picked this

    Mammals have some resemblance to one another with respect to bodily function

    That mammals share some bodily and brain similarities is too vague to support the specific claim about dolphin cognition. Many mammals lack language and forethought; merely having mammalian features doesn't imply higher cognitive function in any particular species.

  2. Correct79% picked this

    The dolphins often exhibit complex new responses to the

    Why this is right

    This is the support. The argument's key claim is that the dolphins' behaviors aren't just learned responses. (B) confirms this directly — the dolphins often exhibit complex new responses to the signal, meaning they generate behaviors beyond a fixed trained repertoire. Genuine novelty in response to a creative-prompt signal is exactly the kind of evidence that points to higher cognitive function rather than simple stimulus-response training.

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

  3. Opposite0% picked this

    The dolphins are given food incentives as part of

    If anything, this weakens the argument. Food incentives provide a straightforward stimulus-response explanation: the dolphins do whatever they've learned earns food. That's consistent with simple training, not higher cognition. We need support for the higher-cognition claim, not an alternative explanation that undermines it.

  4. No Impact3% picked this

    Dolphins do not interact with humans the way they interact with

    Whether dolphins interact differently with humans than with each other doesn't bear on whether their behaviors reflect higher cognition. The argument's focus is on the cognitive nature of the behaviors, not on social patterns.

  5. No Impact13% picked this

    Some of the behaviors mentioned are exhibited by dolphins in their

    If wild dolphins also do these behaviors, that's actually mildly negative for the argument — it suggests the behaviors are part of a natural repertoire rather than products of cognitive flexibility in response to the trainer's signal. At best it's neutral; it doesn't confirm higher cognition.

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free