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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 a man named Alex started demonstrating?

2. What does Eagleman say is difficult?

3. What does Eagleman say we are at the mercy of?

4. What does the logic puzzle that Eagleman challenges readers with involve?

5. What were men then shown for a longer period of time?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the physical division in the brain and what can happen if the two hemispheres are severed.

2. How does Eagleman compare the conscious mind to our senses?

3. How does a rat react to conflicting choices?

4. What does Eagleman say about free will?

5. What does Eagleman suggest about our culpability in our actions, particularly males?

6. What does Eagleman write about Kenneth Parks?

7. What example does Eagleman cite to demonstrate the difference between the rational and emotional mind?

8. What does Chapter 4 explore?

9. What does Eagleman have readers consider about Whitman?

10. What does Eagleman say about the abilities of a bloodhound?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Eagleman presents the example of an experiment where men were shown photographs of the faces of several women and asked to rate their attractiveness. Photographs where the women's eyes had been dilated were consistently ranked as more attractive. When asked why they had chosen some women as more attractive than others, the subjects did not mention the dilated eyes as a factor, yet they clearly were. Eagleman adds that dilated pupils in a woman indicate a state of sexual arousal, suggesting that the subjects who found these photos more attractive were acting on a natural impulse of their unconscious minds.

1. Do you think attraction is a conscious choice or and unconscious one? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

2. Discuss one situation in which you were attracted to something, e.g. a person, a food dish, a car, etc. but were not sure why you felt the way you did and relate it to Eagleman's idea of unconscious attraction. Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

3. If Eagleman is correct about why men might be attracted to a woman, what do you think that might mean about most marriages? Use examples from your own life and Incognito to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Eagleman gives the reader an overview of his ideas about success in Incognito. Discuss one of the following:

1. Discuss Eagleman's opinions of three topics he discussed in relation to the brain. Do you agree or disagree with him? Why? Use examples from Incognito to support your answer.

2. Compare and contrast Eagleman's opinions from Incognito with what you might imagine Eagleman's opinion might be had he lived 100 years ago. How do you think his opinions would change? Would they remain the same? Explain fully. Use examples from Incognito to support your answer.

3. Discuss how you think Eagleman's view on several topics from this essay informs his life as a researcher. Use examples from Incognito to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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