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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 have we humans thrown ourselves into deciphering?

2. What are those people called who sort out baby chickens by their gender?

3. What does the device that takes visual input through a camera and translate it into impulses do?

4. What gap does Eagleman explore?

5. What does Eagleman say can happen even after we learn to see?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Eagleman say Sigmund Freud understood?

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

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

4. What does Eagleman say about the auditory sense?

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

6. What does Eagleman say about how vision works?

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

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

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

10. What is one example Eagleman gives of how one reacts to something before the person is even aware of the situation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Another set of conflicting motivations in the human mind is the rivalry between short term and long term desires, Eagleman argues. He presents several examples of people acting in ways that serve a long-term interest and protect them from the their short-term tendencies. A Christmas club is one such example, where people put money aside each month and then have it returned at Christmas time for purchasing gifts. These kinds of self-bargains are called "Ulysses contracts" after the classical figure Ulysses who had himself lashed to the mast of his boat so he would not be persuaded by the beautiful song of the sirens to steer his boat into the rocks.

1. Why do you think it is important to learn how to delay gratification? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your reasoning.

2. What do you think might be the difference in delaying short term goals between a child of 10 and an adult? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your reasoning.

3. Discuss an example in your own life where you did or did not delay an immediate desire in order to achieve a long term goal. How did this incident relate to one of the examples Eagleman gave?

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

Incognito belongs to the non-fiction genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the non-fiction genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between a nonfiction book and a novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,110 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample