Critical Reasoning

Doctor: Research shows that adolescents who play video games on a regular basis are three times as likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome as are adolescents who do not play video games. Federal legislation that prohibits the sale of video games to minors would help curb this painful wrist condition among adolescents.

The doctor’s conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. The majority of federal legislators would vote for a bill that prohibits the sale of video games to minors.

B. Not all adolescents who play video games on a regular basis suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome.

C. Playing video games is the only way an adolescent can develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

D. Most parents would refuse to purchase video games for their adolescent children.

E. The regular playing of video games by adolescents does not produce such beneficial effects as better hand-eye coordination and improved reaction time.

My Answer is C but the answer given is D.

I think the answer could only be D, if question is framed as:

The Fedral legislation’s conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

The answer is C only.
IMO There is no point being D.

Also, there is no "Fedral legislation’s conclusion" in the argument.

C cannot be correct.

The passage says, "adolescents who play video games on a regular basis are three times as likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome as are adolescents who do not play video games."

It can be implied that "Adolescents who do not play video games also can develop carpel tunnel syndrome"

I would go with "D"

C is incorrect

C. Playing video games is the only way an adolescent can develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

This is not assumed in the passage and strong language also makes it a bad answer choice.

its clearly D

Look closely @ the conclusion:

Federal legislation that prohibits the sale of video games to minors would help curb this painful wrist condition

Well! somebody else can buy the games and give them to minors.

@C : lets negate it:

Playing video games is not the only way an adolescent can develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

now how does this affect the conclusion that federal legislation would help curb this condition?
So it can't be C

IMO C

The Answer is D. I got the point. Thanks everybody!!!

Jatinder wrote:its clearly D

Look closely @ the conclusion:

Federal legislation that prohibits the sale of video games to minors would help curb this painful wrist condition

Well! somebody else can buy the games and give them to minors.

@C : lets negate it:

Playing video games is not the only way an adolescent can develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

now how does this affect the conclusion that federal legislation would help curb this condition?
So it can't be C

Fantastic reasoning!

Let's take a step back for a moment.

Here, the Doctor's conclusion is a prediction. Every time someone makes a prediction, she's assuming that there are no unexpected obstacles to the prediction coming true.

(d) clearly removes a potential obstacle - someone buying the video game for the minor.

Let's go one step further with Kaplan's denial test and see what happens when we apply it to (d):

It is not true that most parents would refuse to purchase video games for their adolescent children.

or, simplified:

Most parents would buy video games for their kids.

Well, if parents would buy the games, then how would banning the sale of games to minors curb carpal tunnel syndrome? It clearly wouldn't.

Since the denial of (d) wrecks the argument, (d) is an assumption.

Thanks Stuart!! Kaplan strategy of negation works here....

Fedral would be able to prohibit , if sales of video games goes down and if u negate D, that parents will buy the video games. As a result, sales will not go down. So, It makes conclusion invalid.So D.

from reading and practicing I create SOLUTION TO ASSUMPTION QUESTION (STAQ). Pls, make your contribution to my small thesis.

assumption must be.

1. in context of evidence (pls, see Critical reasoning 101 to master this)
2.support conclusion
3.pass negation test (see Critical REsoning Bible)
4.remember Supporter and Defender model to realize assumption fast.(see Critical Reasoning Bible)

answer support conclusion but do not pass negation test is attractive but wrong. Practice to realize this kind of tricky answer.

answer support conclution but out of context of evidence is attractive but wrong. practice to realize this tricky one.

pls, contribute your idea to this.

hi guy! I'm confused what kind of structure " help curb" is. i never see this before!

D seems to be the best choice here