Stronger Misdirection in Curved than in Straight Motion

Illusions developed by magicians are a rich and largely untapped source of insight into perception and cognition. Here we show that curved motion, as employed by the magician in a classic sleight of hand trick, generates stronger misdirection than rectilinear motion, and that this difference can be explained by the differential engagement of the smooth pursuit and the saccadic oculomotor systems. This research exemplifies how the magician’s intuitive understanding of the spectator’s mindset can surpass that of the cognitive scientist in specific instances, and that observation-based behavioral insights developed by magicians are worthy of quantitative investigation in the neuroscience laboratory.

[1]  Anthony Barnhart,et al.  The Exploitation of Gestalt Principles by Magicians , 2010, Perception.

[2]  Petter Johansson,et al.  Failure to Detect Mismatches Between Intention and Outcome in a Simple Decision Task , 2005, Science.

[3]  Stephen L Macknik,et al.  Corner salience varies linearly with corner angle during flicker-augmented contrast: a general principle of corner perception based on Vasarely's artworks. , 2009, Spatial vision.

[4]  C. Chabris,et al.  Gorillas in Our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events , 1999, Perception.

[5]  Ronald A. Rensink,et al.  Towards a science of magic , 2008, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[6]  S. Martinez-Conde,et al.  Attention and awareness in stage magic: turning tricks into research , 2008, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[7]  D. Simons,et al.  Failure to detect changes to people during a real-world interaction , 1998 .

[8]  G. Kuhn,et al.  Magic and Fixation: Now You Don't See it, Now You Do , 2005, Perception.

[9]  Xoana G. Troncoso,et al.  Novel Visual Illusions Related to Vasarely's ‘Nested Squares’ Show That Corner Salience Varies with Corner Angle , 2005, Perception.

[10]  P U Tse,et al.  Curvature discontinuities are cues for rapid shape analysis , 2001, Perception & psychophysics.

[11]  Michael F. Land,et al.  There's more to magic than meets the eye , 2006, Current Biology.

[12]  Xoana G. Troncoso,et al.  Microsaccades drive illusory motion in the Enigma illusion , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[13]  Ralf Engbert,et al.  Microsaccades uncover the orientation of covert attention , 2003, Vision Research.

[14]  Social Misdirection Fails to Enhance a Magic Illusion , 2011, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[15]  Xoana G. Troncoso,et al.  BOLD Activation Varies Parametrically with Corner Angle Throughout Human Retinotopic Cortex , 2007, Perception.

[16]  Gustav Kuhn,et al.  Misdirection, attention and awareness: Inattentional blindness reveals temporal relationship between eye movements and visual awareness , 2010, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[17]  John M. Findlay,et al.  Misdirection in magic: Implications for the relationship between eye gaze and attention , 2008 .