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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 the author call self-healing material?

2. If someone moves slightly towards the word dislike before choosing the word like, what does that indicate?

3. What are two examples of optical illusions?

4. What does Eagleman say is the correct way to do this motion?

5. At what age does Mike May regain his vision?

Short Essay Questions

1. How can the brain see without eyes and what is one way this is possible?

2. What has to shift in order to fully appreciate the small role of the unconscious and to what does Eagleman compare that shift?

3. What happens to a blind person who recovers his/her sight?

4. How does Eagleman offer an analogy of one's awareness to a newspaper headline?

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

6. What is the simple experiment Eagleman asks the reader to perform?

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

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

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

10. How does Mike May adjust to his regained sight?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Wilson has cited a number of people in this book. Discuss he following:

1. Choose three people whom Eagleman mentions positively and give a brief idea of his opinions about those three people (or stereotypes). Use examples from Incognito to support your answer.

2. Choose three people whom Eagleman mentions negatively and give a brief idea of his opinions about those three people (or stereotypes). Use examples from Incognito to support your answer.

3. Judging what Eagleman says about different people in his text, how would you characterize him as a friend? As a colleague? Use examples from Incognito to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Our conscious minds represent only a small part of the activity of our brains. As evidence, Eagleman refers to the common experience of reacting to something before a person is fully aware of what is happening, such as when a car backs out in front of a driver and the driver has already stepped on the brakes before he fully "sees" the other car. Major league baseball players are able to hit 100-mph fastballs even though they must begin their swing before their brains have had time to visually process the image of the approaching ball.

1. Discuss an incident in your life in which you reacted to a situation before you fully realized what the situation was and relate this to Eagleman's ideas of the unconscious reacting. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

2. Do you think Eagleman is correct that our conscious minds only represent a small part of the activity of our brains? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

3. Discuss the ways in which Eagleman's assertion about the unconscious has changed the way you view your behavior. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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