Change state of an object based on Freeform Pick Many response

I would like to change the state of a shape to Normal if the response to a Freeform Pick Many response includes a particular value.

I'm building a tool that helps a user build a Discovery Map. The tool walks them through providing up to 8 pains on each of four levels, ranging from Tactical at the bottom to Goal at the top. The tool also queries them on the cause and effect relationships between pains in adjacent levels. I can output the results of both of these data sets using the Print Results function and a JavaScript method of outputting the values of variables. With this information, manual manipulation is needed to build a visual representation of the Discovery Map. I would prefer to build the visual automatically so the user can see it, verify it, and pass it back to me.

One method that occurred to me to have Storyline build the visual representation for me automatically is to create a default state slide that shows all of the "pains" inputs arranged in their four levels with arrows connecting each pain to all 8 of the pains on the level above it. I would set the initial state of all of the arrows to Hidden. Then I would add a trigger for each arrow to change state to Normal if the value of the Freeform Pick Many question that relates to that connection between the two pains includes the name of the text box containing the connected pain on the level above.

In order to do this, I would need to be able to:

1) Reference the variables that contain the responses to the Freeform Pick Many questions

2) Apply a conditional statement that can evaluate a portion of the value of the response (since there could be up to 7 other text boxes named in the response)

Is this possible?

If not, is there a more elegant (or more importantly, supported) way to achieve what I am trying to do?