Eagleman's Incognito Analytical Essay

The book Incognito by neuroscientist David Eagleman is an extremely eye opening and though provoking journey through the human brain. The main focus of Incognito is to show people what little amount of free will and control we have over our actions, because so many things we do are controlled by the subconscious. Eagleman builds his claim using a variety of everyday scenarios and special case studies. For example, how is it possible that our foot reaches for the brake to stop the car before our minds are even aware of why we are doing it? The book states that this is possible, because only a small portion of our brains are actually being used to work on tasks that we are aware of. The signal that causes you to slam the brakes takes place at a subconscious level, explaining why people sometimes do things before they know what they are doing. Often times, the unconscious mind works in ways that influence people’s conscious thoughts. If you feel a certain way about someone or something, it is not uncommon for your mind to invent stories and scenarios that validate your feelings. The

In the 1960’s, a man named Charles Whitman murdered sixteen people on the University of Texas campus. Shortly before this occurred, Whitman wrote his suicide note, specifically asking for an autopsy to be done on his body- because he knew there was something wrong with him. Whitman wrote about he had constantly had angry thoughts and violent urges, but had no idea why. In his autopsy, it was found that Whitman had a brain tumor growing next to his amygdala, which explained why he acted the way he did. This situation brings up another interesting topic of discussion from Incognito. What is the correct treatment for criminals? If Whitman had been alive after he committed the mass murders, was he really the person to blame? After all, he had no control over the actions he was