![]() To put it simply, I exchanged my cape for a lab coat and embarked on a career in cognitive science. ![]() I was disappointed, but as I started to engross myself in learning more about the mysteries of the brain, I replaced my passion for magic with psychology. None of my textbooks on cognitive psychology talked about misdirection, and there was only a handful of research papers that had investigated magic scientifically – and most of them had been published more than 100 years ago. However, as I enrolled on my degree course, I was surprised to learn scientists were not particularly interested in magic. For example, magicians use misdirection to manipulate what you attend to and this allows them to control what you see – and what you miss. Magic relies on powerful psychological illusions and magicians create their tricks by exploiting gaps and errors in our conscious experience. It was this desire to discover more powerful ways of hacking the mind that led me to study psychology at university.įor most magicians, this link between magic and psychology is obvious. I was particularly interested in understanding why magic works, so I read books on psychology, which I hoped would give me a deeper understanding of how to trick the mind. As a kid, I borrowed every book on magic from the local library and spent my free time practising new tricks. I have always been captivated by magic and I dedicated most of my teenage years to it. What do you believe to be possible? What is consciousness? How much control do you have over your thoughts and your actions? And yet, until recently, the art of magic has received little scientific attention. Magic deals with some of the most fundamental psychological and philosophical questions. Most people simply think of magic as just another form of entertainment, but the ancient art of conjuring is now helping scientists uncover some of the mysteries of the human mind. Indeed, from an early age, infants are captivated by events that confound their understanding of the world, and the same is true for adults. This universal appeal can be traced back to a deep-rooted psychological drive to explore things we do not understand. The art of magic has never lost its appeal, and even in our modern lives, which are dominated by science and technology, we are still captivated by experiencing things we believe to be impossible. Conjuring is one of the oldest forms of entertainment and throughout history, tricksters have amazed audiences by performing illusions of the impossible. As you watch this performance, you fully understand that objects cannot simply materialise from thin air, yet this is exactly what you have just experienced. T he magician picks up a coin, conceals it in his hand and, after a magical gesture, it mysteriously disappears, only to reappear from behind your ear.
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