View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is exceptional about the creature mentioned in question 89?

2. What question has been addressed by philosophers for ages?

3. What does the amygdala regulate?

4. What does Eagleman think some people would have said about Whitman had he lived?

5. What assumption does Eagleman dismiss?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Charles Whitman and what did he do and what may have contributed to his actions?

2. What incident does Eagleman discuss concerning Mel Gibson?

3. To what part of the body are newborns drawn and what does this imply about human beings' predisposition?

4. What does Eagleman say about our ability to perceive light versus that of insects?

5. What example does Eagleman cite to demonstrate the difference between the rational and emotional mind?

6. Explain the study that was performed on how men rate a woman's attractiveness.

7. How does a rat react to conflicting choices?

8. What happens when the frontal cortex is damaged?

9. Explain the physical division in the brain and what can happen if the two hemispheres are severed.

10. How does Eagleman see many of the small sub-routines of the mind and what example does he give?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

While there are many competing aspects of the brain Eagleman argues, he focuses on two which he labels the "rational" and "emotional." The rational mind is focused on analyzing the outside world while the emotional mind looks inward. He presents the results of an experiment that pits these two rivals against one another. Subjects are presented with a fictional situation where allowing one person to die would save the lives of five others. In one version of the situation, the person would have to pull a lever to move a runaway train onto a track where it would kill one person but miss killing five. In this version, most people agree they would pull the lever, as the loss of one life is preferable to the loss of five. In another version, however, the situation is presented so that the person would actually have to push one person from an overhanging bridge to stop the train that would otherwise kill five people. Subjects found this version more difficult. The experimenters concluded that the emotional aspect of actually touching a person and pushing them to their deaths overrode the rational computation that it was better to lose one life than five lives.

1. Which mind do you think is more reliable, the rational or the emotional? Why? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

2. Discuss a situation where you made a decision with your emotions rather than your logic. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

3. Do you think you would have the same problem with pushing a person off a bridge as the people in this experiment? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. What do you think are the characteristics of a successful work of non-fiction?

2. Analyze and discuss The Hand based upon the criteria you decide upon in #1 and judge if Incognito is a successful work of non-fiction/memoir.

3. Is The Hand a book you would recommend to a friend? Why or why not? Explain.

4. Can a non-fictional book be successful and yet many readers not enjoy it? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 3

This assembly of competing routines is what makes up most of the activity of our brains, and our conscious mind, as is demonstrated in brains where these competing processes have been interrupted or disconnected, is mostly at the mercy of our unconscious processes. Eagleman presents the results of experiments that suggest that our conscious mind will even fabricate reasons for our actions after the fact when we cannot tell what our true motivations are.

1. There is a saying that we do not really look at pros and cons for a decision but instead make the decision unconsciously and then justify our decision with pros and cons. Discuss this idea bringing in the examples Eagleman gives.

2. Do you think most of the time a person does not know his or her true motivations for behavior? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your reasoning.

3. Discuss an incident in your life where after it happen you could not understand why you said or did what you said or did. How does that incident relate to Eagleman's assertion about unconscious control of people's lives? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,433 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample