Today while procrastinating on working on some writing, I found an article about magic and neuroscience that speaks to the reasons that we have the demonstration on the floor. I know that we always feel like we have to justify having magic in a science museum, but this article offers even more evidence in favor of the art of illusion. In the subtitle, the Scientific American article states that…
Magicians have been testing and exploiting the limits of cognition and attention for hundreds of years. Neuroscientists are just beginning to catch up
It makes sense to me to have both the magic and the sheep brain demo in the back of the museum and this article talks about how they are related. The article reveals that…
the most versatile instrument in their bag of tricks may be the ability to create cognitive illusions. Like visual illusions, cognitive illusions mask the perception of physical reality. Yet unlike visual illusions, cognitive illusions are not sensory in nature. Rather they involve high-level functions such as attention, memory and causal inference. With all those tools at their disposal, well-practiced magicians make it virtually impossible to follow the physics of what is actually happening—leaving the impression that the only explanation for the events is magic.
Neuroscientists are just beginning to catch up with the magician’s facility in manipulating attention and cognition. Of course the aims of neuroscience are different from those of magic; the neuroscientist seeks to understand the brain and neuron underpinnings of cognitive functions, whereas the magician wants mainly to exploit cognitive weaknesses. Yet the techniques developed by magicians over centuries of stage magic could also be subtle and powerful probes in the hands of neuroscientists, supplementing and perhaps expanding the instruments already in experimental use.
The author talks about how scientists are beginning to look at magic scientifically to understand more deeply how the brain functions in day to day life.
There’s all kinds of great info that relates to both demos. You all can read the full article here…
These connections may also reveal why the Exploratorium’s resident neuroscience expert is also our magic aficionado. And while the article does a great job explaining slight of hand, we can also rely on the magicians Penn and Teller to reveal the real secrets behind slight of hand.
Great post, Ryan! And, thanks for the plug…
I’ve actually also struggled with the question of why do we demo magic at the Exploratorium? What does it really have to do with science? What do the kids “learn” (shudder)?
For a long time I didn’t really have a good answer: it’s true that there are a ton of connections with science and magic, one could easily talk about attention, and perception, and cognitive neuroscience, etc. But, in truth, I’ve never done any of those things during a magic demo. I’ve only ever tried to show good magic. Occasionally, I did explain how a simple trick worked, but most of the time I didn’t. I never talked about perception, or attention, or any of that stuff. So, why do we do it? Just because it’s cool?
Then I heard a quote attributed to Frank Oppenheimer, that the main function of the Exploratorium was to show that
Now, what a powerful concept! And, isn’t it the foundation of science, after all, to go beyond the surface of phenomena, and investigate their deeper causes? The world is not as it seems: the sun doesn’t rotate around the earth, it’s the other way around! Almost all of the exhibits at the Exploratorium offer several entry point into this core idea. And, what better than magic to drive home the point: the world is not as it seems?
So, now I feel perfectly at peace with having a magic demo in a science museum, and I encourage you all that are carrying the Explainer torch forward to do as much magic as possible!
Finally, here’s a video of one of my favorite magicians of all times, Tommy Wonder, perform a classic of magic that will blow you away: the Cups and Balls.