Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: People find the news confusing, and it's either because it's too fast or too messy. Since the amount of info isn't actually overwhelming for the human brain, it has to be the messiness.

Conclusion: The reason people find broadcast news confusing is that the information is poorly organized.

Reasoning: There are only two suspected causes for the confusion (speed or organization), and data shows the information density is lower than what humans can typically handle.

Analysis: The argument relies on a 'disjunctive syllogism'—it eliminates one possibility (speed) to conclude the other (organization) must be true. For this to hold, the argument must assume that 'information density' is the definitive measure of whether news is 'delivered too quickly.' If information can be delivered 'too fast' in ways unrelated to density, the elimination is invalid. Look for an assumption that bridges the gap between the density data and the speed of delivery.

Passage Stimulus

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19.

Which one of the following is an assumption that the argument requires in order for its conclusion to be properly drawn?

Correct Answer
A
If the number of stories is a source of confusion, then ruling out high per-story information density wouldn’t justify concluding poor organization. Negation test: If the confusion does come from the number of stories, the argument’s conclusion is undermined. So the argument requires that it’s not the number of stories causing the confusion.
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