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October 10, 2008 7:20:41 PM CDT

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Sleight of Hand Gets the Academic Treatment

Posted Aug 21, 07 4:16 PM CDT in Science & Health,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – Magicians got in on the act at this summer’s Magic of Consciousness conference, hobnobbing with—and even tricking—cognitive scientists as they helped dissect their own profession. The New York Times visits Las Vegas, where master illusionists were welcomed for what one scientist calls "their specific interest in the cognitive principles underlying the magic."

Spectators help illustrate the uncertainty at the intersection of physics and philosophy, submitting to experiments and sleight of hand. Famed magician Teller defines his trade: “The theatrical linking of a cause with an effect that has no basis in physical reality, but that—in our hearts—ought to.” Indeed, magic focuses attention on assumptions only to undermine them with gusto.

Source New York Times

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%u201CThis wasn%u2019t just a group of world-class performers,%u201D said Susana Martinez-Conde, a scientist at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix who studies the way optical illusions affect...   (Shutterstock.com)
(Raymond Joseph) Teller, with partner Penn. Teller was a featured guest at the Magic of Consciousness symposium.   (Getty Images)
Scientists and magicians gather in Los Angeles to discuss the art of illusion and why the human brain lets it work.   (Shutterstock.com; Composite)
The human brain's instinct to look for patterns and rely upon them is the same instinct that magicians exploit when they subvert those patterns.   (Shutterstock.com)
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Penn and Teller Explain Sleight of Hand   (generation666 (YouTube))

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