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ohthatpatrick
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Q13 - A study tested the performance of 70 pilots

by ohthatpatrick Wed Jul 10, 2019 2:41 pm

Question Type:
Explain / Resolve EXCEPT

Stimulus Breakdown:
Study: 70 pilots all capable of performing well ... 35 on low-cal diet ... 35 on normal diet.
Results: the ones not on a diet performed well, but the ones on the low-cal diet performed worse than before (similar to how you'd do if you had two drinks on an empty stomach).

Answer Anticipation:
Why did pilots on the low-cal diet have lower performance?
(maybe: Why was the lower performance similar to that of two drinks on an empty stomach?)

Correct Answer:
D

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Kinda explains. They were on a diet -> they were preoccupied with worries -> they performed worse?

(B) Explains. Diet + drinks -> more vulnerable to alcohol impairment -> performed worse.

(C) Explains. Diet -> fatigue / irritability -> worse performance.

(D) CORRECT. Doesn't explain. Their desire to find out whether diet impacts performance doesn't explain WHY diet seems to have impacted performance.

(E) Explains. Diet -> lower glucose -> worse brain function -> worse performance.

Takeaway/Pattern: That was a weird one, in part because they don't define what "worse performance" entailed, so it was dicey to know whether to say a given effect described in an answer would actually be able to explain the worse performance. Also, the comparative idea of "their impairment was sorta like when you're buzzed on two drinks" was inessential to our task. We didn't need to explain their impairment via alcohol. I think they figured (B) would seem unusable to people because it temporarily equates dieters and non-dieters (we'd think, "Well if this doesn't point to a DIFFERENCE between the two groups, then it's useless"). And I think they figured (E) would seem unusable to people because it drives a wedge between alcohol and diet, whereas the stimulus was making them seem similar.

#officialexplanation