Magic study scientists disappear to Las Vegas. “Two British scientists are to fly to Las Vegas to investigate magicians’ use
of psychology.

Dr Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire and Peter Lamont of
Edinburgh University believe that magicians exploit subtle details of how
the brain perceives the world to mount elaborate deceptions…

The magicians, who include Lance Burton and Max Maven, will be
videoed. A specialised eye tracker will then be used to investigate how
they manage to distract the attention of their audience with pacing, eye
contact and deliberate gestures. Dr Wiseman said: “This is their greatest
skill – attention manipulation. Close-up magicians doing coin and card tricks
are superb at making us look where they want us to.”

They will also study the magicians’ talent for lying to investigate if they
have better control over the subtle cues that we use to detect deception. Dr
Wiseman said that it was once thought that sleight of hand was all about
speed of movement. But it turns out that magicians do not rely on the hand
being faster than the eye, but on using slower – and less obvious –
strategies.

These are related to visual illusions, which occur when there is a breakdown
in the rules used by the brain to create a seamless 3D picture of the world
from the 2D information received by the eyes.

The Telegraph