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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. How did Whitman die?
2. What question has been addressed by philosophers for ages?
3. Why does Eagleman think people find the second puzzle easier to solve?
4. What had people noticed about Whitman in some months before his death?
5. What is the orbitofrontal cortex?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does Eagleman write about Kenneth Parks?
2. What does Eagleman say about our ability to perceive light versus that of insects?
3. To what part of the body are newborns drawn and what does this imply about human beings' predisposition?
4. What does a team of rivals have to do with the brain?
5. What incident does Eagleman discuss concerning Mel Gibson?
6. What does Eagleman say is hard wired into our brains?
7. Explain the physical division in the brain and what can happen if the two hemispheres are severed.
8. Does Eagleman think genetics or upbringing has more to bear on one's actions and does he think it is an important question?
9. How does Eagleman use an example of early robotics to illustrate how the mind may be divided?
10. How does a rat react to conflicting choices?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
This kind of social hard-wiring affects our thinking in some interesting ways, Eagleman claims. He gives an example of a difficult logic puzzle involving colors and numbers and asks the reader to solve it. He then presents a different puzzle that has the same underlying logical solution but has been rephrased to make it about people and their ages. He claims that most people find the second puzzle easier to solve than the first, even though they are essentially the same puzzle. The reason, he argues, is that we can more easily process information if we can frame it in a social context.
1. Give an example of a problem that can be put into a social context and easily solved. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.
2. What you think the fact that social context is more real to most humans means to us as animals? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.
3. Discuss the idea that humans are hard wired to be social and that is why married people tend to live longer than single people. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.
Essay Topic 2
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.
Essay Topic 3
Eagleman in writing about Mel Gibson cites anti-Semitism was demonstrated by Gibson. Discuss one of the following:
1. Define anti-Semitism and give examples of it from both Incognito and other sources.
2. Do you think anti-Semitism still exists in the United States? Explain.
3. Discuss the idea put forth by Eagleman that Mel Gibson may have two brains, one not prejudice and one that is. Use examples from Incognito to support your answer.
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This section contains 1,300 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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