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by imskpwr » Wed Oct 22, 2014 4:28 am
Preliminary tests show that the drug known as Mephaline is useful in treating people experiencing memory loss due to Alzheimer's disease. These same tests showed that Mephaline did not appear to slow or reverse memory loss in people who experienced memory loss due to a brain injury. There must be something qualitatively different about these two types of memory loss.

Which of the following most strengthens the conclusion in the argument above?

Mephaline works by acting on the medial temporal lobes of the brain.

Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.

People with Alzheimer's disease usually have impaired powers of speech.

Some of the people tested were unaware that they were given a drug that was intended to reduce memory loss.

The average age of the people tested who had lost memory due to a brain injury was less than the average age of the people with Alzheimer's disease.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Oct 23, 2014 3:43 am
imskpwr wrote:Preliminary tests show that the drug known as Mephaline is useful in treating people experiencing memory loss due to Alzheimer's disease. These same tests showed that Mephaline did not appear to slow or reverse memory loss in people who experienced memory loss due to a brain injury. There must be something qualitatively different about these two types of memory loss.

Which of the following most strengthens the conclusion in the argument above?

Mephaline works by acting on the medial temporal lobes of the brain.

Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.

People with Alzheimer's disease usually have impaired powers of speech.

Some of the people tested were unaware that they were given a drug that was intended to reduce memory loss.

The average age of the people tested who had lost memory due to a brain injury was less than the average age of the people with Alzheimer's disease.
The study compares PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S to PEOPLE WITH A BRAIN INJURY.
The conclusion is that the two groups of people have DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY LOSS.
One assumption: that there was NO OTHER DIFFERENCE between the two groups of people.
One way to strengthen the conclusion is to eliminate a possible difference between the two groups of people.
Answer choice B:
Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.
By indicating that the people with Alzheimer's and those with a brain injury all had SIMILAR AMOUNTS of memory loss, B strengthens the study's conclusion: Mephaline was effective for the first group but not for the second because the two groups have DIFFERENT TYPES of memory loss.

The correct answer is B.
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by imskpwr » Mon Nov 10, 2014 7:43 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
imskpwr wrote:Preliminary tests show that the drug known as Mephaline is useful in treating people experiencing memory loss due to Alzheimer's disease. These same tests showed that Mephaline did not appear to slow or reverse memory loss in people who experienced memory loss due to a brain injury. There must be something qualitatively different about these two types of memory loss.

Which of the following most strengthens the conclusion in the argument above?

Mephaline works by acting on the medial temporal lobes of the brain.

Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.

People with Alzheimer's disease usually have impaired powers of speech.

Some of the people tested were unaware that they were given a drug that was intended to reduce memory loss.

The average age of the people tested who had lost memory due to a brain injury was less than the average age of the people with Alzheimer's disease.
The study compares PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S to PEOPLE WITH A BRAIN INJURY.
The conclusion is that the two groups of people have DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY LOSS.
One assumption: that there was NO OTHER DIFFERENCE between the two groups of people.
One way to strengthen the conclusion is to eliminate a possible difference between the two groups of people.
Answer choice B:
Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.
By indicating that the people with Alzheimer's and those with a brain injury all had SIMILAR AMOUNTS of memory loss, B strengthens the study's conclusion: Mephaline was effective for the first group but not for the second because the two groups have DIFFERENT TYPES of memory loss.

The correct answer is B.
Why E is not a contender?

My reasoning:
E shows one difference between the two types of memory loss. That can be considered a QUALITATIVE difference. so E leads to conclusion.

B shows SAME "amount of memory loss" is a QUANTITATIVE Similarity between two. but B will not lead to conclusion.
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:20 am
imskpwr wrote:Why E is not a contender?

My reasoning:
E shows one difference between the two types of memory loss. That can be considered a QUALITATIVE difference. so E leads to conclusion.
E: The average age of the PEOPLE tested who had lost memory due to a brain injury was less than the average age of the PEOPLE with Alzheimer's disease.
The argument concludes that there must be something qualitatively different about the two types of memory loss.
E offers an ALTERNATE REASON for the results of the study: that the people with a brain injury were YOUNGER than the people with Alzheimer's.
In suggesting an alternate reason for the results of the study, E WEAKENS the conclusion that there must be something qualitatively different about the two types of memory loss.
Eliminate E.
B shows SAME "amount of memory loss" is a QUANTITATIVE Similarity between two. but B will not lead to conclusion.
It is possible that Mephaline proved more effective for people with a brain injury because they suffered LESS memory loss than did people with Alzheimer's.
The OA RULES OUT this possibility.
By ruling out an alternate explanation for the results of the study, the OA STRENGTHENS the conclusion that there must be something qualitatively different about the two types of memory loss.
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by sabinadhikari99 » Tue Feb 02, 2016 1:11 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
imskpwr wrote:Preliminary tests show that the drug known as Mephaline is useful in treating people experiencing memory loss due to Alzheimer's disease. These same tests showed that Mephaline did not appear to slow or reverse memory loss in people who experienced memory loss due to a brain injury. There must be something qualitatively different about these two types of memory loss.

Which of the following most strengthens the conclusion in the argument above?

Mephaline works by acting on the medial temporal lobes of the brain.

Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.

People with Alzheimer's disease usually have impaired powers of speech.

Some of the people tested were unaware that they were given a drug that was intended to reduce memory loss.

The average age of the people tested who had lost memory due to a brain injury was less than the average age of the people with Alzheimer's disease.
The study compares PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S to PEOPLE WITH A BRAIN INJURY.
The conclusion is that the two groups of people have DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY LOSS.
One assumption: that there was NO OTHER DIFFERENCE between the two groups of people.
One way to strengthen the conclusion is to eliminate a possible difference between the two groups of people.
Answer choice B:
Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.
By indicating that the people with Alzheimer's and those with a brain injury all had SIMILAR AMOUNTS of memory loss, B strengthens the study's conclusion: Mephaline was effective for the first group but not for the second because the two groups have DIFFERENT TYPES of memory loss.

The correct answer is B.
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by harmeen19 » Sun Oct 09, 2016 10:35 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
imskpwr wrote:Preliminary tests show that the drug known as Mephaline is useful in treating people experiencing memory loss due to Alzheimer's disease. These same tests showed that Mephaline did not appear to slow or reverse memory loss in people who experienced memory loss due to a brain injury. There must be something qualitatively different about these two types of memory loss.

Which of the following most strengthens the conclusion in the argument above?

Mephaline works by acting on the medial temporal lobes of the brain.

Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.

People with Alzheimer's disease usually have impaired powers of speech.

Some of the people tested were unaware that they were given a drug that was intended to reduce memory loss.

The average age of the people tested who had lost memory due to a brain injury was less than the average age of the people with Alzheimer's disease.
The study compares PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S to PEOPLE WITH A BRAIN INJURY.
The conclusion is that the two groups of people have DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY LOSS.
One assumption: that there was NO OTHER DIFFERENCE between the two groups of people.
One way to strengthen the conclusion is to eliminate a possible difference between the two groups of people.
Answer choice B:
Patients who took part in the tests had similar amounts of memory loss prior to the tests.
By indicating that the people with Alzheimer's and those with a brain injury all had SIMILAR AMOUNTS of memory loss, B strengthens the study's conclusion: Mephaline was effective for the first group but not for the second because the two groups have DIFFERENT TYPES of memory loss.

The correct answer is B.

Hi Mitch,

We need to strengthen the conclusion where the conclusion is that "the two groups of people have DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY LOSS." so wouldn't we need something to substantiate this difference? As in something which tells us that this difference exists.
As per your analysis, "One way to strengthen the conclusion is to eliminate a possible difference between the two groups of people." Why are we eliminating this difference?
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