Logical Reasoning

PT153 · S3 · Q13 A study tested the performance of 70 pilots

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A study tested the performance of 70 pilots, half of whom chose to go on a reduced-calorie diet.

Background

70 pilots were tested: 35 on a reduced-calorie diet, 35 not on a diet.

They all performed well before the study.

Results

The ones on the diet stopped performing well when they started their diet.

They were impaired in a way that was akin to having two beers on an empty stomach.

Evaluate / Goal

We need to find four answers that explain why going on a reduced-calorie diet led to these pilots performing less well, almost as though they were buzzed by two beers on an empty stomach.

13.

Each of the following, if true, contributes to an explanation of the study results described above except:

  1. Dieters often become preoccupied with

    Helps Explain

    Can "being preoccupied" lead to worse performance as a pilot? Yeah, I guess that seems common sense enough.

    4% picked this

  2. Many of the pilots, including

    Helps Explain

    This answer is basically saying that a bunch of people were drinking before the tests, and the dieters who were drinking would have felt the effects of the alcohol more (they were literally having two beers on an empty stomach). Can feeling more of alcohol's effects explain impaired performance? Sure.

    6% picked this

  3. Reduced-calorie dieting makes most people

    Helps Explain

    Can being "irritable and fatigued" explain impaired performance? Sure. Fatigue is definitely connected with worse performance.

    1% picked this

  4. Correct

    Many of the pilots chose

    Why this is right

    This is the classic No Distinction type of wrong answer we often see on normal Paradox questions. Because this is Paradox-EXCEPT, it's our correct answer. We need to figure out how to make a connection between dieting and worse performance, and this answer provides no distinction between the dieting group and the non-dieting group.

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

    83% picked this

  5. Whereas alcohol has no effect

    Helps Explain

    Dieting lowers glucose, and glucose is a nutrient vital to brain function. So if the dieting group had "less of a nutrient that's vital to brain function", could that explain impaired performance? Sure.

    5% picked this

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