A psychologically-based taxonomy of misdirection (original) (raw)

Social misdirection fails to enhance a magic illusion

2011

Abstract Visual, multisensory and cognitive illusions in magic performances provide new windows into the psychological and neural principles of perception, attention, and cognition. We investigated a magic effect consisting of a coin “vanish”(ie, the perceptual disappearance of a coin after a simulated toss from hand to hand). Previous research has shown that magicians can use joint attention cues such as their own gaze direction to strengthen the observers' perception of magic.

What the Neuroscience and Psychology of Magic Reveal about Misinformation

Publications

When we believe misinformation, we have succumbed to an illusion: our perception or interpretation of the world does not match reality. We often trust misinformation for reasons that are unrelated to an objective, critical interpretation of the available data: Key facts go unnoticed or unreported. Overwhelming information prevents the formulation of alternative explanations. Statements become more believable every time they are repeated. Events are reframed or given “spin” to mislead audiences. In magic shows, illusionists apply similar techniques to convince spectators that false and even seemingly impossible events have happened. Yet, many magicians are “honest liars”, asking audiences to suspend their disbelief only during the performance, for the sole purpose of entertainment. Magic misdirection has been studied in the lab for over a century. Psychological research has sought to understand magic from a scientific perspective and to apply the tools of magic to the understanding o...

Misdirection–Past, Present, and the Future

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2012

Misdirection refers to the magician’s ability to manipulate people’s attention, thoughts, and memory. It has been argued that some of the techniques used by magicians to orchestrate people’s attention and awareness may provide valuable insights into human cognition. In this paper we review the scientific, as well as some of the magic literature on misdirection. We focus on four main points: (1) the magician’s concept of misdirection, (2) the paradigms used to study misdirection scientifically, (3) review of the current scientific findings, and (4) future directions.

Editorial: The Psychology of Magic and the Magic of Psychology

Frontiers in Psychology, 2016

The Editorial on the Research Topic The Psychology of Magic and the Magic of Psychology BACKGROUND Conjurors are masters of illusion and deception, and they have developed astonishing methods for manipulating our experience. Intuitively, the link between magic and psychology seems obvious: magicians use techniques such as misdirection to manipulate our attention, illusions to distort our perception, and forcing to influence our decisions. Some of the early pioneers in Psychology (e.g., Binet, 1894; Triplett, 1900) recognized this close link between magic and psychology and published fascinating scientific papers investigating conjuring techniques. Although some researchers have used magic tricks to study cognition indirectly (e.g., developmental psychologists), few have attempted to bind magic to the science of psychology. In 2005, Kuhn and Tatler published one of the first recent papers on misdirection, which illustrated how conjuring principles can be used to study visual attention (Kuhn and Tatler, 2005). Whilst this paper attracted much popular interest, many scientists at the time were skeptical about the idea of using magic to explore the inner working of the mind. Although the relationship between magic and psychology is intuitive, this approach requires new paradigms and possibly new ways of thinking about cognitive mechanisms. However, because few researchers have access to the secret armamentarium of magical techniques, studying magic scientifically became the privilege of a small group of investigators with direct experience in conjuring. And yet, the last decade has seen a surge in research papers that have used magic to explore a wide range of topics in psychology. Concrete frameworks now explain how magic can be studied scientifically and the advantages that this direction may provide (

Cognitive illusions

gustavkuhn.com

Magicians have developed powerful techniques to manipulate our perception and awareness. Many of these techniques share similarities with phenomena typically investigated by psychologists and neuroscientists. Here a novel approach to the study of consciousness is proposed which utilizes the magician's expertise to complement more traditional experimental laboratory based research. It is argued that this approach o ers new and exciting insights into wide areas of consciousness, such as attention, visual awareness and top-down modulation of perception.

Sleights of mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our everyday deceptions

2010

" This book doesn't just promise to change the way you think about sleight of hand and David Copperfield—it will also change the way you think about the mind."—Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide and Proust Was A Neuroscientist Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, the founders of the exciting new discipline of neuromagic, have convinced some of the world's greatest magicians to allow scientists to study their techniques for tricking the brain.

A Psychologically-Based Taxonomy of Magicians’ Forcing Techniques

2020

Magicians have developed a wide range of techniques to influence and control spectators’ choices of such things as card, word, or number. These techniques are what is called forcing. The present paper develops a psychologically-based taxonomy of forcing techniques with two goals in mind. Firstly, it should help uncover the different psychological mechanisms that underlie forcing techniques. Secondly, it should facilitate knowledge transfer between magicians and psychologists. The main division present two basic categories that can be used as a way of focussing separately on (1) decision-making processes and external influences on choices, and (2) links between sense of agency over action and outcome as well as the illusion of control over this outcome. This taxonomy allows us to clearly differentiate between forces in which there is or is not a free choice, and whether this choice has an impact on the following events.

Sleights of mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains

Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 2011

The book I review, _Sleights of Mind_, aims to illuminate properties of perceptual systems by discussing human susceptibility to magical illusions. I describe how the authors use psychological principles to explain two tricks, spoon bending and the Miser's Dream. I also argue that the book is congenial to the following view of illusions: susceptibility to illusion is the result of evolutionary trade-offs; perceptual systems must make assumptions in order to function at all, but susceptibility to illusion is the byproduct of such assumptions.