Beyond the Tricks: The Science and Comparative Cognition of Magic

Annu Rev Psychol. 2024 Jan 18;75:269-293. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-012723-100945.ABSTRACTMagic is an art form that has fascinated humans for centuries. Recently, the techniques used by magicians to make their audience experience the impossible have attracted the attention of psychologists, who, in just a couple of decades, have produced a large amount of research regarding how these effects operate, focusing on the blind spots in perception and roadblocks in cognition that magic techniques exploit. Most recently, this investigation has given a pathway to a new line of research that uses magic effects to explore the cognitive abilities of nonhuman animals. This new branch of the scientific study of magic has already yielded new evidence illustrating the power of magic effects as a psychological tool for nonhuman animals. This review aims to give a thorough overview of the research on both the human and nonhuman perception of magic effects by critically illustrating the most prominent works of both fields of inquiry.PMID:38236652 | DOI:10.1146/annurev-psych-012723-100945

Source: Annual Review of Psychology - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Elias Garcia-Pelegrin Alexandra K Schnell Clive Wilkins Nicola S Clayton Source Type: research