LSAT Question Stem

Which one of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for the explanation? 

Logical Reasoning Question Type

This is a Strengthen question. 

Correct Answer

The correct answer to this question is C. 

LSAT Question Complete Explanation

Let's first analyze the argument in the passage. The argument states that when someone gets sick from eating a meal, they often develop a strong distaste for the food with the most distinctive flavor in that meal, whether or not that food caused the sickness. The passage then concludes that this phenomenon explains why children are especially likely to develop strong aversions to some foods.

In this argument, we have one premise: "People develop distaste for foods that make them sick." The conclusion is: "This explains why children don't like some foods." The passage introduces a new element in the conclusion, which is "children." To strengthen the argument, we need to connect this new element to the premise.

An "Evaluate" question for this argument could be: "Are children more likely to get sick from meals and have acute taste senses compared to adults?"

Now let's discuss the answer choices for the Strengthen question:

a) Children are more likely than adults to be given meals composed of foods lacking especially distinctive flavors.

- This answer choice is incorrect because it weakens the argument. If children are more likely to get food without distinctive flavor, they are less likely to develop aversions.

b) Children are less likely than adults to see a connection between their health and the foods they eat.

- This answer choice is incorrect because it is unrelated to the argument. If anything, it offers another reason for children to develop aversions: they don't see the health benefits of some foods, so they go by taste alone.

c) Children tend to have more acute taste and to become sick more often than adults do.

- This is the correct answer choice. It fills in the gap that the stimulus is missing. Children tend to have more acute taste and become sick, which connects the element in the premise, sickness, with the new element in the conclusion, children. If children are more likely to become sick, they are more likely to develop distaste, based on the premise.

d) Children typically recover more slowly than adults do from sickness caused by food.

- This answer choice is incorrect because it deals with recovering from sickness, which has nothing to do with actually getting sick or developing a distaste for food.

e) Children are more likely than are adults to refuse to eat unfamiliar foods.

- This answer choice is incorrect because it focuses on children refusing to eat unfamiliar foods. If a child has never tasted a food, he or she cannot develop a distaste for that food, so this answer choice is unrelated to our argument about sickness and distaste for certain foods in children after they have eaten them.