Mind Hacks – Sleight of Mind
Dr Vaughan Bell has posted an article on Tom Stafford and Matt Webb’s website Mind Hacks discussing mindreading tricks from the psychological angle. The article is titled “Sleight of Mind” and Dr Bell was prompted to write it after watching a presentation by Keith Barry on TED.
He was reminded of points made in Derren Brown’s wonderful and becoming rarer by the minute book Pure Effect where Derren…
“…makes the fascinating point that the narrative itself is part of the redirection, and describes how framing magic tricks in psychological language leads to certain expectations which, of course, make certain redirections more easily achievable.”
Dr Bell concludes:
“This is what most impresses me about professional magicians. The slight of hand and the perceptual tricks are cool, but its the cognitive magic, the shaping of expectancies through narrative, that makes them seem so wondrous.”
Exactly.
The full article can be read here.
Technorati: Magic derren brown, keith barry
