Confirmed Presentations SoMA 2024

A preview of coming attractions for SoMA 2024 in Las Vegas. The following abstracts are from confirmed presentations that will be taking place at the conference. View the preliminary program here

Confirmed Talks

Wonders Never Cease: A Review of the Science of Magic from 1887 to present day (Welcome talk)

Matthew L. Tompkins

In the past 20 years, the scientific investigation of magic has undergone something of a renaissance. Since the year 2000, the body of experimental scientific literature on the topic of performance magic has increased nearly ten fold, in comparison to all of the experimental work published prior to the turn of the 21st century. While this recent level of focus on the topic is arguably relatively novel, contemporary researchers should be aware that efforts to integrate performance magic with cognitive science can actually be traced back to earliest days of experimental psychology. Given the recent rise in interest in the cognitive science of magic it is important to look back on previous perspectives on the topic. This talk will explore how approaches science of magic has evolved over time, specifically by considering every published empirical study of adult perceptions of magic from 1887 until the presented day, with a particular focus on why magic was relatively understudied by 20th century researchers, and how the current trends are similar and different to past approaches. I will also discuss how these comparisons and contrasts can be used to derive lessons for contemporary (and future) researchers who are looking to engage with the science of magic.

An intuitive taxonomy of magic effects

Thomas L. Griffiths, Gustav Kuhn, Cyril Thomas

Magicians and researchers have proposed a variety of taxonomic schemes for organizing effects into different categories, but these taxonomies are typically derived from the intuitions of the single person who created them. We pursue a different approach to constructing a taxonomy of magic effects, collecting similarity ratings for 47 different effects from a group of online participants. We then apply hierarchical clustering to the resulting similarity matrix to extract a taxonomy. This taxonomy echoes distinctions made in previous proposals — such as a strong distinction between mentalism and more physical effects — but also demonstrates distinctions between categories of physical effects that reveal some of the subtle influences of intuitive physics on the perception of magic.

The structure of wonder

Jason Leddington

What is wonder, and what is its relationship to knowledge? On the one hand, the wonder we experience at a magic trick depends on not knowing how it's done. In other words, in magic, knowledge destroys wonder. On the other hand, many people report experiencing wonder precisely by achieving insight into how the natural world works. In other words, in science, knowledge often induces wonder. These two views of wonder seem incompatible. However, in this talk, I present a theory that reconciles them.

The mechanics of suspense in magic and variety arts

Leah Orleans

This lecture explores the psychological and narrative foundations of suspense, emphasizing its importance in magic and variety arts. Attendees will learn key mechanics such as the Zeigarnik effect, fear of the unknown, assumption, expectation, pacing and structure and how these theories apply to crafting an emotional and psychological arc for the audience. Leah will delve into narrative techniques like plot twists, foreshadowing, and character development, as well as performance strategies such as misdirection, precise timing, and escalation. The session also offers practical tips for crafting suspenseful performances that captivate and intrigue. Magicians and scientists will leave with actionable insights on integrating suspense into their work to enhance emotional engagement and maintain audience interest .

Breakdown:

Relevance to magicians and scientists: Creating emotional engagement and maintaining audience interest through uncertainty.

Examples of suspense in everyday life and its parallels in performance arts.
Narrative Structure: The role of plot twists, cliffhangers, and pacing. Character Development: Creating empathetic characters whose fates are uncertain.
Use of Foreshadowing: Planting subtle clues that build anticipation without giving away outcomes.
Misdirection: Diverting the audience's attention to enhance surprise and uncertainty.
Timing: The importance of precise timing to maximize suspense.
Escalation: Gradually increasing the stakes to heighten tension.
Understanding audience psychology: How different audiences react to suspense.
Balancing Predictability and Surprise: Ensuring that suspense is proportional and satisfying.

“I once was blind…”: Using the choice blindness paradigm to manipulate religious attitudes and beliefs

Ryan McKay, Lars Hall, Thomas Strandberg, Alexandrina Vasilichi, Annabelle Gall & Petter Johansson
Given ongoing debates about the consequences of religious beliefs for social behaviour and psychological wellbeing, effective procedures for experimentally manipulating such beliefs are highly desirable. To date, however, robust, replicable methods have proven elusive. Here, we leverage a “sleight of mind” paradigm known as “choice blindness” to directly manipulate religious beliefs and attitudes. “Choice blindness” refers to the fact that research participants often fail to notice mismatches between an outcome they choose (e.g., an attractive face, or a type of jam) and an outcome they receive, while nevertheless being prepared to offer justifications for choosing the outcome they did not in fact choose (Johansson et al., 2005). Across three studies, we “magically” exposed participants to reversals of their originally indicated beliefs about questions such as the existence of life after death and whether religion is a cause for good in the world. A substantial portion of our participants not only failed to detect these reversals, but constructed coherent arguments supporting the opposite of their original position. Moreover, our experimental manipulation had a large effect on subsequently measured religious attitudes, which moved in the manipulated direction. Religious participants were no less likely than their atheistic counterparts to detect manipulations of their attitudes. Our work introduces a powerful, replicable paradigm for the experimental control of religious beliefs, a paradigm that holds great promise for illuminating contentious topics in the psychology and cognitive science of religion.

Reference: Johansson, P., Hall, L., Sikström, S. & Olsson, A. (2005). Failure to detect mismatches between intention and outcome in a simple decision task. Science, 310(5745), 116–9. doi:10.1126/science.1111709.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by a grant from the NOMIS Foundation (“Collective Delusions: Social Identity and Scientific Misbeliefs”) awarded to Ryan McKay.

Magic, deception and disinformation from antiquity to our days

Michel Pretalli

François Géré (2018) wrote that “Like the illusionist, the disinformation expert is a master in the art of deceiving human senses.” Indeed, magic and deception share many characteristics, such as the destabilizing effect of surprise, the production of extraordinary effects, the use of secrecy and concealment, and the use of disinformation. Magic – in the black or white forms it assumed along the centuries – often produces prodigious effects that can surprise and destabilize witnesses. Similarly, an ingenious stratagem can achieve unexpected victories or completely surprise an enemy, creating confusion that can be fatal. In Latin culture, such effects were called praestigiae, a term defined by Félix Gaffiot in his Latin dictionary (augmented edition, 2016) as “phantasmagoria,” “illusions,” “sleight of hand,” “artifices,” and “detours,” all of which relate to deception. These similarities suggest close links between deception and magic since ancient times, which are apparent un the literary tradition. In texts from the 5th century BC, for example, the term mageia referred to a “powerful form of deception performed by shrewd practitioners on immature, credulous victims.” (Schwemer 2015). This connection is confirmed in the Encyclopedia of Deception (2014), which states that the main difference between magic and deception lays in their aims: the former entertains by deceiving those aware of the trick, while the latter aims to harm by deceiving the unsuspecting. However, the underlying mechanisms of magic and deception are substantially the same. Considering some examples chosen in the wide variety of magical practices of the Western tradition since Antiquity and focusing on the disinformation techniques, this talk will explore the nature of the links between deception and magic across different social and cultural contexts, shedding light on little-known aspects of this relationship in the Latin world, medieval Europe, Renaissance Europe, and up to the 19th century of Houdini and beyond.

• Géré, François, Sous l’empire de la désinformation. La parole masquée, Paris, Economica, 2018.
• Schwemer D. (2015), “The Ancient Near East”, dans D. J. Collins (ed.), The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West from Antiquity to the Present, Cambridge, p. 17-51.
• Villalobos J. G., Ogundimu O. O., Davis D. (2014), « Magic Tricks », dans T. R. Levine (éd.), Encyclopedia of Deception, 2 vols, Thousand Oaks, p. 636-639.

Spycraft and stage magic - common principles for manipulating explanatory reasoning

Ashley Barnett

Deception is an attempt to manipulate our abductive reasoning, i.e. how we generate and compare explanations and decide which hypothesis is the most plausible. Some of the principles used in stage magic are also used in espionage and military deception operations. In this talk, I will quickly explain the logic of abductive reasoning, and illustrate with espionage examples and magic tricks the principles of manipulating someone’s abductive reasoning process that are common to both. I hope to explain how applied epistemology helps us understand how deception works and may provide a theoretical framework for empirical studies, and also what intelligence analysts can learn from magicians about detecting deception.

Magic, magicians, and wonder shows

Matt Pritchard

From the science fuelled wonder shows of the 19th century to the influence of algorithm driven shortform TikTok videos - people keep returning with the desire to witness the extraordinary.

Illusionist Doug Henning said, “The art of the magician is to create wonder.” I argue that we limit the power of magic by having too narrow a definition of magician.

Taking lessons from my own research into wonder, illusion designing and teaching science, I will consider questions such as: ‘Have we misplaced wonder?’ ‘Does magic require a magician?’ And ‘Can the magical exist without secrets?’ It is my belief that wonder is a mystical thread binding both magic and science together, not always easy to define, but always presence in our practice as scientists informed by magic and magicians informed by science.

This paper will enlarge our understanding of wonder, examine why it matters so much to our work & explore what really makes an event/performance/experience wonder-full.

Creating shared experiences of magic for blindfolded and seeing participants

Vebjørn Ekroll, Kaia G. Grytten, Madeleine U. Irgens-Hagevik, Max S. Lohne & Joakim Winther

In a recent study, Ekroll, Wünsch and van Lier [i-Perception, 2024] showed that magic tricks based on illusions of imagery can be adapted for non-visual presentation, and the magical experiences evoked by these adapted tricks presented to blindfolded participants were roughly comparable to the magical experiences evoked by the original tricks presented to seeing participants. In the present study, we replicated their experiment, but instead of presenting the tricks to blindfolded and seeing participants in separate one-on-one sessions, we presented the tricks to pairs of one blindfolded and one seeing participant in order to explore whether the tricks can be used to create shared experiences of wonder where people with blindness or visual impairments can enjoy the tricks together with an audience of seeing individuals. The results from this study are similar to those of Ekroll, Wünsch and van Lier, and suggest that adapting tricks based on illusions of imagery is indeed a promising approach for creating shared experiences of magic which can be enjoyed by sighted individuals and individuals with blindness or visual impairments at the same time.

Magic for the blind - Are auditory tricks impossible?

Gustav Kuhn, Cyril Thomas, Tyler Gibgot, Vebjorn Ekroll

Magic is an artform that allows us to experience the impossible, and our experience of such illusions can provide intriguing insights into the nature of human cognition. In this talk we examine why most magic tricks rely on visual perception and why it is virtually impossible to create a magic trick that relies on auditory perception alone. At the core of any magic trick lies a conflict in beliefs – a conflict between the things that we experience and the things that we believe to be possible. This cognitive conflict does not demand a special status for one sensory modality, and yet, most magic tricks are based on vision. A typical magic trick involves multi-sensory experiences, but it is easy to perform tricks that rely on vision alone. The same is not true for other senses, such as hearing. There are countless auditory illusions and yet there are few if any tricks that rely on auditory perception alone. In this talk, we raise the question of why this is so, and argue that research focussing on this question could not only provide deeper theoretical insights into the similarities and the differences between our senses,

We focus on three hypotheses about this visual dominance in magic. We challenge the idea that the visual dominance results from a lack of tradition within the magic community. Instead, we suggest that the visual dominance reflects differences in how much we trust our senses and fundamental differences in our auditory and visual mental representations. The challenge of performing magic tricks using auditory perception alone raises novel, timely and intriguing questions about our senses and provides an opportunity to make the art of magic more accessible to people with blindness or visual impairments.

Magic InSIGHT: More than meets the eye

Tyler Gibgot, Gustav Kuhn, Vebjørn Ekroll, Cyril Thomas

Magic is traditionally a visual art form, and we investigated the feasibility of adapting magic to be inclusive and engaging for blind and visually impaired individuals. We used a semi-structured interview and interviewed 20 participants from various blindness organizations worldwide. Our participants included individuals who were blind since birth and individuals who lost their vision later - blindness varied from full to partial. The questions captured their thoughts and emotions about the potential of adapting magic for non-visual engagement. It probed practical aspects—such as preferences for auditory descriptions and tactile interactions with props— and explored emotional responses to these theoretical magic tricks. Our data revealed strong emotional engagement with the concept; participants expressed optimism and enthusiasm about the inclusivity of adapted magic shows. Many felt a sense of anticipation and excitement at the prospect of experiencing magic in a way that could cater to their other sensory experiences. However, some individuals also shared apprehensions and scepticism about whether these adaptations could truly replicate the wonder and surprise that magic is known for. Specific responses included descriptions of joy and curiosity from participants who envisioned themselves interacting with the magical props, while others voiced concerns over the potential loss of spontaneity in the tricks. 85% of participants rated their excitement about adapted magic shows while about 30% expressed some level of skepticism. This mixture of hope and skepticism underscores the complexity of adapting a visual art form to meet non-visual needs effectively and highlights the emotional depth involved in making such an art form accessible. Our findings emphasize the need for ongoing innovation and thoughtful consideration to ensure that magic can be a shared and inclusive experience. In this talk I will also share my own personal experience of performing and experiencing magic as an individual with visual impairments.

Birds of a feather flop together: the impact of superficial similarities on negative transfer

Thomas Cyril & Didierjean André

Our ability to solve new problems primarily depends on our capacity to use analogical reasoning. This type of reasoning allows us to transfer knowledge from one problem to another by relying on two types of similarities: superficial (observable) and structural (abstract). While this transfer is generally beneficial (positive transfer), it can be inappropriate and hinder the resolution of a new problem (negative transfer) when the solution to the source problem is not suitable for the target one. Negative transfer, however, can be advantageous for magicians seeking to conceal the method of a trick. Our research investigates the extent to which a representation (i.e., switching two objects) incidentally activated in a “non-problem” context (i.e., a three-shell game with cards vs. cups) can hinder, in a subsequent insight problem (i.e., a six-cups problem), the discovery of the solution (i.e., pouring the contents of one glass into another). We also explore the role of superficial similarities (i.e., the use of cups in both context Vs. the use of cards in the first one and cups in the second) in this negative transfer. Our results show a negative transfer between the source context and the target insight problem, but only when they share superficial similarities (i.e., the use of cup in both). We discuss the psychological processes involved in this negative transfer, its implications in the field of magic, and propose directions for future research.

Funding: Funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche

Probabilistic amazement: Actual and perceived odds of magic tricks

Adam Putnam, John Harris, Emma Page, Elija Hicks, and Lilli Smith

Some magic tricks make impressions by accomplishing feats that appear physically impossible. Other tricks, however, owe their impact to accomplishing tasks that, while not impossible, are highly implausible. Think of a magician predicting a thought-of number or blindly sorting a full deck into reds and blacks. For these implausible effects, can people accurately assess the actual probabilities of such events occurring? Past research (Kuhn et al., 2023) has demonstrated that the improbability of an effect does not perfectly correlate with how impressive or enjoyable that trick is to spectators. Still to be considered, however, is the fact that people in general (Lipkus et al., 2001) do not have good intuition regarding likelihoods and odds, even when they are explicitly provided. The first part of this interdisciplinary project begins with a mathematical perspective on the likelihood of various magical effects and the surprising subtleties of measuring some probabilities (think ACAAN, for example, or finding matching cards in the same position in each of two shuffled decks). The second part consists of an empirical study that examines the relationship between perceived and actual probabilities. Participants read a short vignette involving one of several implausible magic tricks that ranged both in probability of occurring and whether the effect occurred as the result of the magician's or the spectator's actions. We anticipate that the perceived odds will generally correlate with objective odds (but not perfectly) and that there will be a moderate correlation between the perceived odds and subjective ratings of enjoyment and impressiveness. Finally, we anticipate that all of our dependent variable values – the perceived odds, enjoyment, and impressiveness, will go up when a spectator is causing the magic to occur as compared to the magician, even though logically, the perceived odds should not change.

Of fingers and thumbs: Insights from the French Drop on monkey action production and expectation

Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, Rachael Miller, Clive Wilkins, Nicola S Clayton

The ability to anticipate others' actions is crucial for social interaction. However, the influence of hand morphology and biomechanics on such predictions remains unclear. The common coding theory proposes a shared neural substrate for both action perception and production. According to this principle, actions are encoded based on their intended effects, with representations of these effects underlying both action perception and production. This allows us to infer the goal of observed actions and guide our movements. Consequently, perceiving and performing similar actions should activate these representations more strongly.
Sleight-of-hand, which exploits observers' expectations of specific manual movements, offers a unique opportunity to investigate how different biomechanical capabilities perceive various action patterns. The French drop effect serves as an apt model, as it involves the magician simulating a hand-to-hand object transfer with a concealed thumb movement, leading observers to infer the missing opposing thumb action.
In this study, we investigated how three New World monkey species with varying degrees of thumb opposability—common marmosets, squirrel monkeys, and capuchins—experienced the French drop effect and whether their expectations were moderated by their biomechanical ability and manual anatomy. Additionally, we included a control version of the trick using a power grip, a movement achievable by all primate species. Only species with fully or partially opposable thumbs were susceptible to the French drop, mirroring human performance. Conversely, all species tested fell victim to the control manipulation.
The findings highlighted in this study provide evidence for a strong interaction between the physical capacity to execute a manual action and the ability to predict the outcome of the same action in others, thus emphasizing the importance of biomechanical constraints in shaping our perception of actions.

Illusory conjunctions in a psychological force of a face card

Eve A. Isham, Richard Hill

The magician L'Hommé Masque introduced a method to cause spectators to see a card that in fact was never in the deck. This psychological force involves riffling through a prearranged deck to rapidly present card values from which the spectator makes a visual selection of a face card (target card). Crucially, the target card appears among non-face cards of the same color but a different suit. This leads the spectator to mistakenly identify a face card that is not actually in the deck. For example, presenting the King of Spades within a sequence of non-face Club cards leads to a false perception of the King of Clubs. This psychological force inspired the current investigation, linking its effectiveness to mechanisms associated with illusory conjunction and face-based attentional capture. Illusory conjunctions (Feature Integration theory; Treisman & Schmidt, 1982) refer to the incorrect visual integration of correctly perceived features (e.g., shape and color), and are observed when stimuli are briefly presented (< 150 ms) or during a dual task that diverts attention (but see Prinzmetal et al., 1995). Visual facial stimuli are also known to capture attention (e.g., Landau & Shlomo, 2008) and may facilitate a greater separation between the face and suit features of a face card, resulting in a stronger illusory conjunction. Participants viewed a series of typical playing cards at different presentation rates (80-240 ms) in a single or dual-task paradigm. All cards contained the alphanumeric and suit symbols in the peripheral upper left and lower right corners. To study the effect of face-based attention, we varied the foveal content of the target card between pictorial face cards, letter-suit cards, or suit only cards. We anticipated the illusory conjunctions to be most prominent when the target card was a face card.

Toward a theory of exposure

Brian Rappert & Gustav Kuhn

Excited attention towards the disclosure of methods – what is termed ‘exposure’– infuses both popular and practitioners’ portrayals of entertainment magic. As an art associated with ‘doing the impossible’, the disclosure of methods is widely held as ruining the prospects for experiencing astonishment. For all its familiarity, however, exposure is rarely subject to extended consideration in the thoughts and theories of professional magicians. In line with a tradition of conceiving of magic as a form of social interaction constituted through the relations between audiences and performers, this presentation offers a theorization of exposure; one grounded in qualitative and quantitative empirical research with magicians. Varied notions of ‘boundary work’ are engaged which provide means for doing justice to the nuances of what it means to expose the secrets of magic. As an intervention into ongoing debates about what counts as appropriate conduct, the ultimate aim of the article is to help re-imagine what is at stake in conjuring.

Using magic as a boundary object to engage students in learning user experience design

Tong Li

Magic performance design and user experience (UX) design share many similarities. Just as magicians craft illusions to elicit awe and wonder among their spectators, UX designers create products that offer intuitive and enjoyable user experiences for their users. Similar to accomplished magicians who constantly challenge themselves to come up with new magic effects and iteratively test and refine their magic routine, great UX designers always envision new products or experiences, iteratively test the design concepts, and use storytelling to disseminate and promote the product. These connections between magic and user experience design, along with the entertaining nature of magic performance, make magic a valuable tool for engaging students in learning UX design. Over two decades ago, Tognazzini (1993) argued that some magic principles and skills, such as misdirection, showmanship, and the magic-refining process, can be used to teach interaction design skills. In addition, teaching designers how to think like magicians and consider the emotional aspects of their designs can make the UX design more engaging and “wow” their users (de Jongh Hepworth, 2007). This presentation introduces the integration of magic in a UX design class. Students learned about the UX design process and principles by watching, learning, and performing magic tricks. The magic creation process and principles were used to guide and influence students’ UX design process. During the presentation, I will not only introduce this magic-based teaching method and related learning activities but also share students’ design works and feedback to show how adopting a ""magician's perspective"" can benefit their design. In the end, I will share preliminary results from analyzing students’ interviews to understand how magic influences their design learning experiences.

References: de Jongh Hepworth, S. (2007) Magical experiences in interaction design. Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Designing pleasurable products and interfaces, ACM, 108–118. Tognazzini, B. (1993, May). Principles, techniques, and ethics of stage magic and their application to human interface design. In Proceedings of the INTERACT'93 and CHI'93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 355-362).

Wonders never cease: A review of the Science of Magic from 1887 to present day

Matthew L Tompkins

Confirmed Poster Presentations

Big Five personality traits, curiosity, and exploration in the world’s best magicians

Wojciech Napora & Anthony S. Barnhart

Unlike most theater, modern magicians often adopt an audience-centric approach that makes spectators active participants in the show. However, the character of the performer impacts the tenor of these audience interactions. Here, we considered whether certain personality traits differentiate champion magicians from the general population. We explored the relationship between Big Five personality traits and Curiosity and Exploration in a group of world champion magicians (N = 50). The results showed that variability in Intellect/Imagination predicted Curiosity and Exploration. These personality variables were also compared with a control group of non-magicians. The study showed that champion magicians are characterized by higher extraversion, emotional stability, intellect/imagination, and stretching & embracing, but lower agreeableness and conscientiousness than control participants.

Forcing decisions using the placement force – Insights from eye movements and individual differences

Gustav Kuhn, Rachael Bulfor-Forbes, Liliana Schirru, Meda Valecke

We cherish the idea of being in charge of your thoughts – However, the magicians’ force challenges this notion, and it highlights the ease by which our thoughts can be covertly manipulated. The placement force is a powerful forcing technique which relies on placing an item in more reachable physical locations which in turn increases the chances of it being selected. We used the placement force to investigate the impact that attentional strategies and individual differences in cognitive thinking style have on this decision bias. The experimenter placed four face-down cards on the table in a horizontal row, after which participants (n = 137) were asked to select a card by pushing it forward. We replicate previous findings showing that 52% of the participants chose the card that was in third position to the right – the one that was most reachable. Despite this highly significant placement bias participants felt that their decisions were free, and they also lacked metaknowledge of the bias. Eye tracking measures revealed that when participants were simply invited to look at the cards, they spent more time fixating the two central cards. However, this attentional bias did not predict the card that they chose. Individuals who were more reflective decision makers (higher CRT scores) were no less susceptible towards the force, nor were individuals who spent more time deliberating about their decision, or those who examine more alternatives (eye movement measures). Our results do not support the view that placement effects result from cognitive decision heuristics. Instead, we argue that people choose the option that requires the least amount of physical effort, and that we lack conscious awareness of this simple behavioural decision strategy. Our findings dovetail Binet’s observations from studying magicians in his laboratory more than a 100 years ago.

Presto chango: How visual and social representations of magicians morph for women and men

Logan Balasa, Brenna Hayes, Aysenur Barak, Kevin L. Ladd

Contemporary social perceptions and acceptance of magicians are tentative. Enough people dislike magic that Silvia et al. (2022) reported significant relations between hating magic and the personality traits of respondents, including gendered differences. Likewise, the documentary film Women in Boxes (Noyes & Pallenberg, 2008) identifies gender-based problems that confront the history and contemporary practice of performing art (cf., Chamber, 1983). Determining the nature of how magicians are socially conceptualized could offer insight into what physical and psychological traits, values, and behaviors are considered most undesirable.
Method
Recruiting is underway of 130 male and female participants via social media and public postings (e.g., coffee shops). Each person is compensated with a $10 Target gift card.
Participants initially use colored pencils to draw a magician (Finson, 2002) when instructed:“Imagine you see someone doing magic. Please draw the magician you think you would see.”
Next, participants complete a Qualtrics-based survey, including a manipulation check and open-ended questions describing their drawing (e.g., sex). They respond to questions concerning levels of self–magician identification (Chambers, 1983). Subsequent questions record individual’s comparative ratings of both themselves and their “typical” magician concerning traits, values, and behaviors.
Hypotheses
Among our main hypotheses, we anticipate that 1) drawings will feature predominantly white, male figures using mostly black and white colors and that women portrayed will have a lower clothing:body ratio; female magicians will be drawn most often by women 2) larger self-magician discrepancies will predict less favorable evaluations of magicians and greater desired social distance; 3) larger self-magician discrepancies will be reported by women.
Expectations
We believe that this project will be informative concerning the current state of how magicians are perceived with regard to physical image, traits, values, and behaviors. Knowledge of these facets of public perception can be of use to the magic community.

Funding is acknowledged from the Indiana University South Bend undergraduate SMART summer fellowship program.

Setting the stage for a new magic: Balthasar Bekker's "The World Bewitched"

Kevin L. Ladd

Magicians are rarely controversial, but Balthasar Bekker wasn’t a magician. So when his “Betoverde Wereld” (The World Bewitched) appeared in four volumes from 1692-1693, it was the theater of the mind that was thrown into turmoil. Following in the intellectual tradition of Weyer, Scot, della Porta, and Descartes, Bekker’s concern was with the potential interface of any metaphysical and physical realms. What resulted in Bekker’s forcible removal from his pastorate in the Reformed Church was that he took the next steps. He did not simply suggest that “spirit possession” and other such notions were forms of mental illness or other physical affliction, nor did he provide an expose of the naturalistic methods of trickery used by would-be witches. Instead, he contended that metaphysical entities, particularly the demonic, had no possible way of influencing physical states, significantly restricting their sphere of activity. While Bekker played his intellectual cards close to his vest and did not deny metaphysical activity, others would soon tip his hand to observe that his position could simultaneously promulgate atheism, hence the turmoil.

Although Bekker does not address the performance of tricks as purely entertainment per se, his use of earlier thinkers places him squarely on the shared pathway leading in that direction. By further sharpening the distinction between any potential metaphysical and physical domains, Bekker demonstrates the next intellectual stage of how emerging physical, scientific understandings ultimately will underpin a magic that, if shrouded in mystery, is that way by choice and not because of metaphysical inscrutability.

This presentation offers the contours of Bekker’s thinking as well as the strong and immediate reaction to it, suggesting that such controversy could be part of the reason behind the challenges magicians have faced over the years with regard to social status and acceptance.

The magic of language and the language of magic

Aritz Irurtzun

Anthropology and linguistics attest that, across the world, practitioners of supernatural rituals (chamans, medicine men, etc.) tend to make use of the magic of language when conducting their acts with an intended supernatural outcome: they may employ strange-looking “magical formulae” (abrakadabra, Hocus Pocus...), change their language via grammatical operations (sound substitutions, morphological changes,...), or they may even change of language altogether (to a classical language (Latin, Sanskrit,...), or to a language perceived as particularly apt for magical rituals (which can be oral or a sign language)).
I present the Ritual Language DataBase, which provides a typology of such languages around the world, diplaying interesting patterns in structure and use of those languages. As a case-study I then focus on the analysis of Basque traditional magical formulae. I argue that there are two types of formulae: (i) Basque language formulae (BF); characterized by their plain language (fully understandable to the community), and (ii) Voces magicae (VM), incomprehensible ‘mumbo jumbo’. I provide a structural and statistical analysis of the phonological nature, number, and length of each type of formula, uncovering that VM tend to display a much larger number of marked (strange) sounds and phonotactic patterns, but also that they are fewer in number and shorter than BF. I provide a combined evolutionary analysis of these properties, as markedness is perceived as a source of performative power, but it also comes at a price: marked items substantially hinder working memory resources, and are more difficult to integrate. In consequence, it is natural that VM are fewer and shorter than BF, if they have to be learned and reproduced over time. The phenomenon is, nonetheless, much more widespread. as similar markedness patters can also be observed in the VM of other languages -as attested from Ancient Mesopotamian scripts, to recent Harry Potter English.

Acknowledgements:
This research was funded by the following grants: ANR-21-CE27-0005 (ANR) and PLRS (InSHS-CNRS).

Think and you'll miss it: Magical misdirection through humor

Tara Schaalma & Anthony Barnhart

Magic theorists assert that the punchline of a joke creates what they refer to as an “off-beat,” blinding audience members to the world around them. While other forms of the magician’s off-beat have been studied, humor-induced inattentional blindness has not been explored in the laboratory. Here we describe the results of an experiment designed to verify the existence of this phenomenon and test one hypothesis for why humor may elicit inattentional blindness. We propose that humor requires people to manipulate the contents of working memory to reinterpret a joke’s setup in light of the punchline, usurping attentional resources from the visual world. To test this hypothesis, we employed garden path sentences, which mimic the cognitive demands of humor. Participants listened to spoken garden path and matched control sentences, judging their complexity. Meanwhile, they engaged in a dot-probe detection task, monitoring a display of colored noise for the onset of a subtle dot. Dot onsets were manipulated relative to the deviation point in each garden path sentence. We predicted that participants would be slower and less accurate to detect dot probes if they happened on or after the deviation point. We failed to find compelling evidence in support of this prediction.

Using a card-based magic trick to teach critical thinking skills in a psychology research course

Emily Stark and Michael Callahan

Critical thinking skills are central to the discipline of psychology and are expected of students in a variety of college programs. The APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major (APA, 2013) include critical thinking as a broad goal, with specific skills of demonstrating psychology information literacy, using scientific reasoning, problem-solving, and research design. Numerous teaching activities have been developed by psychologists to build critical thinking skills in students, mostly emphasizing the application of an understanding of research design to critiquing studies and highlighting flawed conclusions. This poster describes an activity incorporated into a research methods course for psychology majors that used a demonstration of a magic trick to encourage critical thinking. Magic provides a perfect opportunity for students to examine their own assumptions about a situation and to realize how easily their assumptions, perceptions, and expectations can be manipulated by a skilled magician.
To provide an engaging opportunity to develop students’ critical thinking skills, the first author (Dr. Stark) worked with a local professional magician and entertainer (the second author, Mr. Callahan) to create a student activity. Mr. Callahan created a card trick that met several goals: it allowed for easy display over Zoom [as the course was taught in a synchronous online format], it included multiple steps providing opportunities for students to hypothesize outcomes and test their assumptions, and, he was willing to reveal the “secret” of at the end of the activity.
This poster describes the steps of the trick and how students were asked to think about their own assumptions and develop alternative explanations for what they saw. Additionally, suggestions for instructors are also included. Overall, this activity was successful at engaging students in critical thinking in a unique context and can be applied to a range of courses and experiences.

Using mentalism magic methods to simulate Newcomb’s Paradox

Matthew L Tompkins

Newcomb’s paradox is a celebrated problem in philosophy and decision theory. The problem is classically presented as a thought experiment: respondents are asked to imagine a being with the capacity to make extremely accurate predictions of their future decisions, and are further invited to make a choice concerning two boxes. Box 1 contains $1000, and Box 2 contains either $1,000,000, or nothing. The choice is between taking both boxes; or taking only Box 2. The content of Box 2 depends on what the being has predicted the respondent will choose. If the being has predicted the respondent will take both boxes, it will have left Box 2 empty; while if the being has predicted the respondent will take only Box 2, it will have put $1,000,000 in that box. The problem continues to divide philosophers and the public alike. In a survey of more than 300 professional philosophers, 29.9% chose both boxes and 27.1% chose Box 2 alone (43% were undecided). An earlier Guardian poll of nearly 32,000 readers found that 46.5% chose both boxes and 53.5% chose Box 2 alone. A major issue with these findings, however, is that the problem is always presented as purely hypothetical, so it is unclear how respondents would genuinely act in this situation. Our hypothesis was that many people who choose both boxes do so because they have not really bought into the thought experiment. I will present the results of a study where we apply a new paradigm using magic trick methods to emulate plausible future neurotechnologies- we make the problem scenario feel real for participants (N=209) by simulating an accurate ‘predictor’ being in the form of a (sham) neurotechnological system. 96% of our participants believed that the predictor was genuine, of these participants 73% opted to take only one box.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by a grant from the NOMIS Foundation (“Collective Delusions: Social Identity and Scientific Misbeliefs”) Project led by Ryan McKay.

What magic and illusion can teach us about neuroscience, teaching methodology and provider-patient interaction

Stephen P. Wood, Jeanette Andrews

The term magic and medicine connotes images of potions and elixirs, spells and curses. There is however, a lot that the practitioners of medicine can learn from the science of magic. We developed a workshop delivered by a a healthcare provider and educator as well as a professional magician, that explores the innovative intersection of magic and healthcare. By leveraging the principles of magic and illusion, the presentation aims to illuminate key concepts in healthcare, focusing on enhancing patient interactions, improving educational strategies for both patients and providers, and understanding the psychological underpinnings of influence within the healthcare context. The session delves into the parallels between the art of magic and the practice of healthcare, highlighting how techniques used by magicians, such as forcing, misdirection, and sleight of hand, can be analogously applied to healthcare settings. For example, the concept of ""forcing,"" where a magician subtly influences a spectator's choice, is examined in relation to patient decision-making and consent processes. This aspect of the presentation provides healthcare professionals with new insights into how they might inadvertently guide patient choices and how to ensure these choices remain patient-centered and autonomous. Furthermore, the presentation emphasizes the importance of creating engaging and memorable educational experiences. By using illusions and magical storytelling, healthcare educators can better capture the attention of their audience, whether they are training medical staff or educating patients about their health. The techniques demonstrated offer novel approaches to making complex medical information more accessible and retainable. Throughout the presentation, real-world applications and case studies are provided, illustrating how magical principles have been successfully integrated into healthcare environments. Delivered to a diverse audience of healthcare providers, educators, and organizations, this presentation not only entertains but also challenges traditional perspectives, inspiring attendees to think creatively about their interactions and educational methods within the field.

Metaverse and magic: Innovating magic tricks with digital avatars in virtual & augmented reality

Suyash Joshi

This presentation explores how Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) along with Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can transform the world of magic. By using these new technologies, magicians can create experiences that go beyond traditional stage performances. Imagine magic tricks where the audience is fully immersed in a virtual world or sees illusions that blend seamlessly with the real world performed by your virtual avatar magician. We will explore the opportunities and challenges VR and AR bring to magic, such as new ways to interact with audiences and create mind-blowing illusions along with the technical difficulties of VR and AR, ensuring everyone can access these experiences, and keeping the sense of wonder and mystery alive in a digital medium. We will cover: - How VR and AR combined with generative AI can pave a way for new medium to experience magic tricks. - The creative possibilities and challenges these technologies offer to magicians. - The user experience and interaction best practices for presenting magic tricks in AR and VR - The use of Generative AI to create engaging averts - The ethical considerations of using digital tools in magic. - Live demo to try on one of a kind AR/VR Magic Show

Rhetorical mathematics in magic and law

Curtis Frye

At its heart, mathematics is a formal system with strict rules of proof. Pure mathematics is characterized in part by the search for exception and error, so much so that identifying a single flaw in an argument usually invalidates its associated claim unless and until the error is fixed. Once one moves beyond the realm of formal proof, however, mathematics becomes a rhetorical art. Similarly, in the legal arena, even when the facts of a case are not in dispute the interpretation and application of statutes and standards of evidence are open to argument, judgment, and appeal. Lawyers and magicians, especially magicians who specialize in a branch of stage magic called mentalism, often use math in their arguments and presentations. Selecting the order of witnesses and exhibits, establishing the likelihood of an event by emphasizing the relative improbability of alternatives, and vastly overclaiming the importance of evidence and objections during summation all play a central role in trial strategy and tactics. Drawing on works such as Lawrence Tribe’s classic article “Trial by Mathematics: Precision and Ritual in the Legal Process”, Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez’s popular book Math on Trial, and Ashley Saunders Lipson’s reference work Courtroom Use and Misuse of Mathematics, Physics, and Finance: Cases, Lessons and Materials, Rhetorical Mathematics interrogates the persuasive milieu where audiences encounter argument as finders of fact, participants in a magical demonstration, or both. This presentation is based on a chapter of the same name that will appear in the forthcoming Law and Magic: Volume II, edited by Christine Corcos, from Carolina Academic Press.

Large language models for magic

Jacky Baltes & Saeed Saeedvand

This talk explores how Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) along with Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can transform the world of magic. By using these new technologies, magicians can create experiences that go beyond traditional stage performances. Imagine magic tricks where the audience is fully immersed in a virtual world or sees illusions that blend seamlessly with the real world performed by your virtual avatar magician.

We will explore the opportunities and challenges VR and AR bring to magic, such as new ways to interact with audiences and create mind-blowing illusions along with the technical difficulties of VR and AR, ensuring everyone can access these experiences, and keeping the sense of wonder and mystery alive in a digital medium.

We will cover:

- How VR and AR combined with generative AI can pave a way for new medium to experience magic tricks.
- The creative possibilities and challenges these technologies offer to magicians.
- The user experience and interaction best practices for presenting magic tricks in AR and VR
- The use of Generative AI to create engaging averts
- The ethical considerations of using digital tools in magic.
- Live demo to try on one of a kind AR/VR Magic Show

Magic to conjure up academic skills for dissertation support

Paul Rice, Emma Kimberley, & Amy West

This project uses magic to explore dissertation skills with students at the University of Northampton. Students in a session on preparing for the dissertation (level 5) learned (and performed) a magic trick and then used their experiences learning/performing that trick to reflect and develop narratives around their dissertation topic and the process of researching and writing. The teaching sessions integrated skills essential for the dissertation such as critical thinking, linking, metacognitive reflection, and conceptualising the process of a long project. Previous research has suggested using magic will stimulate curiosity, engage and motivate, and students will find the session more memorable.
This session builds on existing research around using magic in education by making the student the magician. Students were put into smaller groups then each group was shown a different trick that looked impossible to master. They were then given the secrets/tricks to perform their magic to the rest of the group. The remainder of the session was used to identify the transferable skills of mastering the magic that could be applied to mastering the dissertation process.

This presentation will report the findings from the pre-post session survey from the intervention to evaluate the use of a magic trick in teaching dissertation skills by:

· Evaluating the effectiveness of using a magic trick to teach dissertation skills.
· Evaluating the use of magic to make skills teaching more memorable.
· Evaluating the use of magic to support motivation and positive emotions around dissertation tasks.
· Evaluating the use of magic to counter some of the negative affects students encounter such as lack of motivation or negative self-efficacy beliefs.

Full statistical analysis was carried out on 84 participants who completed the pre and post questionnaire and the findings and insights from this research will be provided in this presentation.

Matt TompkinsAugust 13, 2024