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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. What does Eagleman say about implicit egotism?

2. How many connections does a typical neuron make to neighboring neurons?

3. What is meant by "implicit egotism"?

4. What does Alberts record?

5. What does Eagleman say about the ways to measure how our unconscious minds affect our conscious thinking?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is seeing and what is the most important aspect of seeing?

2. Why is it an advantage to be able to do things without the use of the conscious mind?

3. What is the point of the experiment that Eagleman suggests the reader try?

4. What ways can our vision be fooled?

5. Who is Mike May and what happens to him?

6. Why does Eagleman say it is not correct to change lanes by turning the wheel right and then straightening it out?

7. What does Eagleman say scientists continually study, and what is the result?

8. What is another illustration of how one reacts to something before the person is even aware of the situation?

9. What does Eagleman say the experiment with the photographs of women illustrates?

10. What does Eagleman say our intuition tells us about our experience of the world and is the intuition accurate?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Our intuition tells us that we experience the world as it actually exists, Eagleman explains in chapter two. But we are actually unaware of most of what is happening. We can move an arm and be aware that it has moved, but we are unconscious of the flurry of neural impulses that caused the arm to move. Eagleman proposes an analogy that consciousness is like a newspaper, where complicated processes have been compressed into headlines. We read these "headlines" with our conscious minds while remaining unaware of the full "story."

1. Why do you think our intuition tells us the world we experience actually exists? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

2. Thinking back to yesterday, discuss ideas, actions or thoughts of which you may not have been aware. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

3. Do you think humans need to be more aware of the "behind the scenes" of any behavior or action? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

What we like is also determined largely by unconscious thinking and a natural tendency to like ourselves, Eagleman claims. This is called "implicit egotism," and is a well-established phenomenon, he explains. It is illustrated by the fact, for example, that people marry others with first names that start with the same letter more often than would be expected by chance. Eagleman claims this is because we implicitly prefer others that are like ourselves in some way.

1. Discuss how you feel about yourself and whether you think your feelings stem from your unconscious. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

2. Do you think most people like themselves? Why or why not. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

3. Do you think it is a positive trait that a person likes him/herself? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

There are a number of interesting questions raised by Incognito. Questions that Eagleman most likely want readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Eagleman's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Wilson's probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

4. Research the life of Eagleman and see if/where his life may have influenced his writing.

(see the answer keys)

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