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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 far in the past do we actually "live"?

2. What is the most important part of seeing?

3. What does Alberts record?

4. When does the conscious mind actively train the unconscious mind?

5. What does Eagleman claim most people possess?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What has given greater insight into the workings of the mind since Freud's time?

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

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

5. What does Eagleman say Sigmund Freud understood?

6. What is one way to measure how our unconscious minds affect our conscious thinking without our even knowing it?

7. Summarize the experiment Eagleman writes about concerning photographs of women and how men responded.

8. How is one's conscious mind limited and how does this make the mind more difficult to understand?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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.

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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