In preparation for today’s forum, I have asked you to read two works of secondary criticism: a book chapter by Natalie Phillips, entitled “Divided Attention: Characterization and Cognitive Richness in Jane Austen” and a a book chapter by Alan Richardson, “Jane Austen and the Perils of Mental Time Travel.” PDFs for both articles can be found under Content in the module on Pride and Prejudice. Please be sure to respond to all prompts fully by addressing each of the proposed questions. Number your responses accordingly. There are ten questions total in this forum, five per each article that I have assigned. All questions are valued at 10% each. It may be helpful to quote directly from these articles in your responses.
“Divided Attention: Characterization and Cognitive Richness in Jane Austen.”
1.What is “divided attention” or “multifocus” and how does it play out in Austen’s narrative system? What happens when multitasking is overtaxed?
2. Phillips describes Elizabeth Bennet as a character with “cognitive richness” and “depth.” However, she also states that Eliza possesses “mental flexibility”. What is this and what does it have to do with theories of attention and distraction? How do we (Austen’s readers) know that Elizabeth possesses such abilities, i.e. what marks her as such in the novel?
3. What is “monofocus”? Give an example of one minor character in Pride & Prejudice who has this trait and explain how/why.
4. What is “hyperfocus”? Give an example of one minor character in Pride & Prejudice who has this trait and explain how/why. How does Phillips subtly distinguish this from monofocus?
5. Austen famously catalogued her readers’ reactions to her novels. Why does Phillips posit that she did this? What does Phillips imagine Austen’s ideal reader to be like, then and now?
“Jane Austen and the Perils of Mental Time Travel”
6.What is the “Janus Hypothesis”? How various scholars and researchers of the “Janus hypothesis” distinguish between “imagination” versus “episodic future thinking”? Give an extended example of the Janus hypothesis from one of Austen’s novels. Be sure to quote directly from the novel.
7.What is “source misattribution”? Give an example of this from one of Austen’s novels and be sure to quote from the novel.
8.What is “hindsight bias”? Give an example of this from one of Austen’s novels and be sure to quote directly from the novel.
9.According to Daniel Schacter, how does a reconstructive memory system work, and what are its advantages? How does this theory of the brain from contemporary neuropsychology align with empiricist-associational philosophies of the eighteenth century? (Hint: see page 64).
10. How can the “broadcasting” of remembered experiences effect the consciousness of other persons (positively and/or negatively)? Give an example of this from Pride and Prejudice. (Be sure to quote directly from Austen’s novel.)
