The utterance, “There will be a quiz on this” is notorious for striking panic into a roomful of students, but for me it holds the key to my strongest motivation. I am so much more likely to read a textbook chapter that will be followed by a pat on the back in the form of smug circling of correct letters. Not a test, mind you – not an essay, not an exam – but a quiz. Preferably of the multiple-choice variety.
Perhaps it’s the comparative ease of recognition – identifying the correct choice – over recall (coming up with the right technical term to fill in a blank) that provides what enigmatologists have identified as a primal reward. Behavioral game designers schedule these rewards optimally – a bonus round here, an achievement unlocked there – so that the brain never suffers the frustration of dopamine withdrawal during game play, and that iPad becomes nigh on impossible to put down.
So if you’ve been reading the Last Word on Nothing for the past year or more and have been waiting to feel vindicated for all that time spent, here’s a little quiz that you should be able to answer. For newcomers, take it anyway! Learn a little something and if you are intrigued by any of the facts you discover, there are URLs for the posts they came from beside every answer.
After about 40 responses, the average score is 46%, so if you’re getting a 6 or 7 correct out of 10, consider it an A+.