#18 - Astronauts who experience weightlessness frequently

[Yining Bei]

Hi Powerscore,

Could some one explain to me why A is wrong? To me, it is a perfect illustration of motion sickness caused by "conflicting information received". For the passengers that see the view of water, there is no conflict and therefore they are less likely to get motion sickness than those that do not see water...

Is it because the question asks for additional support but not an application of the hypothesis established by the stimulus? So in that case E would be correct, because it supports the hypothesis in a way that suggests motion sickness is not a result of orbiting (eliminating alternative cause)?

Would answer A be correct if it were a parallel principle question?

Thanks,
Yining

[Jonathan Evans]

Yining,

(A) is right, at least both according to my analysis and the answer key I have.

We have a situation in which the author proposes that an incongruity in information reaching the brain is a possible cause for motion sickness. Answer choice (A) provides another example of such incongruity (this time in reverse: avoiding the experience of inner ear indicating motion but vision indicating otherwise to mitigate motion sickness). Compared with the other answer choices, (A) is the best. Can you check your answer key again?

Thanks!

[gen2871]

Hi Dear LSAT masters:

I have a physics question: in the stimulus it says the cause of motion sickness was conflicting information, i.e. weightlessness (moving relative to passing objects) vs. inner ears indicating body not moving.

Answer choice A. ROUGH voyage = body moving along with the images a passenger can see via the window, hence no conflicting information. whereas body moving vs. no window view produce the conflicting information. If i remember correctly that the object on a moving object is relative stable because it is moving along with the moving object. Hence the passenger without a window has the conflicting information which produces motion sickness.

Do I get the point? really not a science major and this very limited understanding of physics was installed in me 20 years ago. please clarify. thank you! Sorry for the gibberish.

[LSAT2018]

I was confused with understanding the answers (D) and (A) which have comparisons on being more/less/as likely to get motion sickness. How is (A) correct and (D) incorrect? Is (D) saying that there is no conflicting information for both groups?

As for (A) doesn't it not explicitly say that the inner ear indicates their bodies are not moving/moving?

Would love to ask clarification on this, thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

Hey there gen and LSAT, let me see if I can help you both out!

Gen - I think you have it! No physics required, really (thank goodness, because I am pretty sure I was playing hooky that day, by which I mean that whole year). The stimulus shares a hypothesis that motion sickness is caused by conflicting info in the brain - your body tells you one thing while your eyes tell you another. In the case of the astronauts, the eyes say you are moving while the body says you aren't. Conflict! *yurp!* In answer A, the passengers with a window have no conflict - they feel and see movement - and they do not get sick as much, while those with no window have a conflict - they feel movement but see none (the opposite experience of the astronauts, but a conflict between eyes and body nonetheless) - and they get motion sickness. Conflict! *yurp!*

LSAT2018 - answer D might actually weaken the hypothesis, if you assume that the folks in the window cannot see out and the folks at the aisle can! If the two groups get the same degree of motion sickness, while one has a conflict between what they see and what they feel, then that would hurt the claim that the conflict between eyes and body matters. Or, perhaps answer D has no impact, since we don't know whether the folks in the aisle can nonetheless see outside, nor do we know whether the person riding in the plane or train can feel their movement. Maybe they feel is but don't see it, or maybe they see it but don't feel it, or maybe they both feel it and see it? It's just so confusing! For that reason, D can't be the right answer, because it needs too much outside help for it to do anything with any degree of certainty.

Answer A doesn't have to discuss the inner ear, because the hypothesis isn't about the inner ear specifically, but about the brain getting conflicting info about what's happening. Perhaps the folks on the boat aren't dealing with inner ear issues, but with their bodies actually being tossed around the cabin like rag dolls? While luggage and dishes and bedding and pets and children fly through the air around you and into you? But the cabin doesn't appear to be moving at all, because without a window you can't see any relative movement of things like the horizon, the waves, the stars, etc. The room is clearly moving, but your eyes can't see the movement. I expect that the inner ear would be involved in all this, but we don't have to mention it, because all we need is to know that the eyes and the body might be experiencing different inputs. Conflict! *yurp!*

[gen2871]

Haha. Watching a Hockey Game in the t-mobile Arena in Las Vegas while its 110 outside is the best thing ever!! I will buy you bears if you have time to come down here for all of the help you gave me!!Thank you!!