The Other Side of Magic.

TL;DR: It is argued that perceptual and cognitive principles governing how humans experience hidden things and reason about them play a central role in many magic tricks, and how insights from perceptual psychology provide a framework for understanding why these tricks work so well.

Abstract: When magicians perform spectacles that seem to defy the laws of nature, they do so by manipulating psychological reality. Hence, the principles underlying the art of conjuring are potentially of interest to psychological science. Here, we argue that perceptual and cognitive principles governing how humans experience hidden things and reason about them play a central role in many magic tricks. Different from tricks based on many other forms of misdirection, which require considerable skill on the part of the magician, many elements of these tricks are essentially self-working because they rely on automatic perceptual and cognitive processes. Since these processes are not directly observable, even experienced magicians may be oblivious to their central role in creating strong magical experiences and tricks that are almost impossible to debunk, even after repeated presentations. We delineate how insights from perceptual psychology provide a framework for understanding why these tricks work so well. Conversely, we argue that studying magic tricks that work much better than one intuitively would believe provides a promising heuristic for charting unexplored aspects of perception and cognition.

Summary

Introduction

• Note that these experiences are quite compelling even though you know very well that there is no complete triangle (in panel c) or cross (in panel d) behind your thumb.
• It is also interesting to consider that with tricks based on attentional misdirection, every sense of magic is lost once you know how the trick works.

Cognitive impenetrability

• The only reason why the upper figures look white while the lower figures look black is that they are viewed in different contexts (Anderson & Winawer, 2005; see also Adelson, 2000 and Gilchrist et al., 1999 for similar demonstrations).
• Some effects of learning and knowledge on their mental processing of occluded objects have been documented, (Vrins et al., 2009, Hazenberg et al., 2014, Hazenberg & van Lier, 2015), but it can be discussed whether these effects are part of what should be called amodal perception proper.
• When people try to debunk a trick based on amodal perception, the cognitively impenetrable illusion (or visual fixedness) closes the door to the right solution even before any conscious problem-solving even starts.
• Visual fixedness and the cognitive impenetrability of perceptual mechanisms may be regarded as an extreme form of this kind of generation of false assumptions that may be critical to the robustness and potency of many magic tricks.
• Based on this reasoning, investigating the effect of repeated presentations of magic tricks on the spectators’ likelihood of figuring out the method could be a promising tool for elucidating the nature of the mechanisms underlying different kinds of magic tricks.

Summary and conclusions

• The authors have argued that automatic perceptual and cognitive mechanisms governing how they experience and reason about hidden things – in particular those underlying the well-known phenomenon of amodal presence and the less well-known, but presumably intimately related phenomenon of amodal absence –play a central role in many magic tricks.
• The authors have also argued the causal role of these mechanisms, which cannot be observed directly, is difficult to appreciate even for experienced magicians, and that it may therefore have been largely neglected in discussions of how magic works.
• The authors have also suggested that the surprising discrepancy between the expected and the actual efficiency of many magical routines may serve as a tell-tale sign of interesting psychological effects that may help guide further research into the psychology of magic.

Full text

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$)!)$!!$)+2))*)!*
!3!#4+!$!$!$
)!#%!'#)!$)
)*))**+5#$#)$
!$!!!$)!)!!
%&6789:67;9&$<=(8879>!&=)=
(8879=&$(8?9@+(8?')!!#
!!!)!!!!)#)
!$))!!+
@#$*!)!!!#$
%,)(88+6')$!#)
$!$!$))!!!
)%>(889&$@(8)
*)))!'+=!!)
%=AB=066C9#66C9=(88?')
.$)!!#$!*!)!!!$
)!$)!!!)!$
!+!)%>!=!667'*
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For Review Only
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!!$$!#E$
E$!)#)+<$
!*!$)$)!$)$!$!!#!!
)$!)$
%#(88('+@#$***!#)*
*!#+
@!!!$!$#$!#)!
)$!!!%&$+(8D'+2$!#!
!)*$))$#$.$
$)*##)+F!
)&$@F))0%(887'*$!!$
$*!!$#)!)
*+!!#*$)!$!#$#
!!$*##)$$*
!)*$)+
!))!!.$!)
!$.$!)$)+@)))
!$)$!!$#**$)
!!$/$#+<!!)#!!$*$
$)*G!H$H++!*
)!*!)+>!)!$!!!
#))#!*#!!)!$
$$#!$$*)+2))
$#)))#
!*!!))$$!!$!$
!!!)!!#!*+!)!!)
Page 4 of 44Perspectives on Psychological Science
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