Differential Effects of Experience and Information Cues on Metacognitive Judgments About Others’ Change Detection Abilities

This study explored the interaction between visual metacognitive judgments about others and cues related to the workings of System 1 and System 2. We examined how intrinsic cues (i.e., saliency of a visual change) and experience cues (i.e., detection/blindness) affect people’s predictions about others’ change detection abilities. In Experiment 1, 60 participants were instructed to notice a subtle and a salient visual change in a magic trick that exploits change blindness, after which they estimated the probability that others would detect the change. In Experiment 2, 80 participants watched either the subtle or the salient version of the trick and they were asked to provide predictions for the experienced change. In Experiment 1, participants predicted that others would detect the salient change more easily than the subtle change, which was consistent with the actual detection reported in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, participants’ personal experience (i.e., whether they detected the change) biased their predictions. Moreover, there was a significant difference between their predictions and offline predictions from Experiment 1. Interestingly, change blindness led to lower predictions. These findings point to joint contributions of experience and information cues on metacognitive judgments about other people’s change detection abilities.

“Impossible” Somatosensation and the (Ir)rationality of Perception

Impossible figures represent the world in ways it cannot be. From the work of M. C. Escher to any popular perception textbook, such experiences show how some principles of mental processing can be so entrenched and inflexible as to produce absurd and even incoherent outcomes that could not occur in reality. Surprisingly, however, such impossible experiences are mostly limited to visual perception; are there “impossible figures” for other sensory modalities? Here, we import a known magic trick into the laboratory to report and investigate an impossible somatosensory experience—one that can be physically felt. We show that, even under full-cue conditions with objects that can be freely inspected, subjects can be made to experience a single object alone as feeling heavier than a group of objects that includes the single object as a member—an impossible and phenomenologically striking experience of weight. Moreover, we suggest that this phenomenon—a special case of the size-weight illusion—reflects a kind of “anti-Bayesian” perceptual updating that amplifies a challenge to rational models of perception and cognition. Impossibility can not only be seen, but also felt—and in ways that matter for accounts of (ir)rational mental processing.

Interlude I

Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday: I am eleventy-one today! Bilbo Baggins, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings With a new-found ability to subtract at speed, you can impress friends with a “magic” trick that, as it’s based on math, never fails (this is but one example of “mathemagic,” about which many books have been written...

Hocus Pocus: using comics to promote skepticism about the paranormal

This study investigated the potential for comics to promote skepticism about the paranormal. Participants rated their interest in comics, read a skeptical account of alleged paranormal phenomena in one of three mediums (text, comic, and comic containing an interactive magic trick), and then rated their engagement, skepticism and recall. The text was rated as more interesting and entertaining than the comics, and participants' prior interest in comics positively correlated with engagement and shift in skepticism. This suggests that for certain cohorts, comics may be an effective way to promote engagement and attitude change. The implications for future work are considered.

How to Dispel Magic

This chapter shows that the problem of the observer—that is, the question of how humans respond to witnessing machines that exhibit intelligence—was the subject of substantial reflections in the field of AI in the 1950s and 1960s. As AI developed as a heterogeneous milieu, bringing together multiple disciplinary perspectives and approaches, many acknowledged that users might be deceived in interactions with “intelligent” machines. Most members of the AI community were confident that the deceptive character of AI would be dispelled, similarly to a magic trick, by providing users with a better understanding of computer systems. This approach, however, did not take it into account that deception is not a transitional but a structural component of people’s interactions with computers. The chapter argues that the dream of dispelling the magic aura of computers was superseded by the realization that users’ perceptions of AI systems can be manipulated in order to improve interactions between humans and machines.

Teaching young adult learners is an intelligent orchestration of science and arts

Purpose This paper aims to propose a classroom teaching orchestration technique, analogically drawing a reference from the movie, Prestige (2006). The generation of post-millennials has shorter attention span and motivation and prefers a learner-centric teaching style. This paper attempts to mitigate such challenges by bringing an analogy with a magic trick along with proposing a “divergent-convergent diamond structure” to anchor and synthesise teaching deliverables for the learners. Design/methodology/approach This is a practitioner’s study where practical experiences of the authors have led to the conceptualisation of the central theme discussed. Findings From a practitioner’s opinion and interpretation, the proposed “divergent-convergent diamond structure” has the potential to make postgraduate classes more engaging. The proposed structure may suggestively promote self-efficacy, trigger curious minds, bring relevance, indulge participatory learning and consolidate the concepts.

Influencing choices with conversational primes: How a magic trick unconsciously influences card choices

Past research demonstrates that unconscious primes can affect people’s decisions. However, these free choice priming paradigms present participants with very few alternatives. Magicians’ forcing techniques provide a powerful tool to investigate how natural implicit primes can unconsciously influence decisions with multiple alternatives. We used video and live performances of the mental priming force. This technique uses subtle nonverbal and verbal conversational primes to influence spectators to choose the three of diamonds. Our results show that a large number of participants chose the target card while reporting feeling free and in control of their choice. Even when they were influenced by the primes, participants typically failed to give the reason for their choice. These results show that naturally embedding primes within a person’s speech and gestures effectively influenced people’s decision making. This raises the possibility that this form of mind control could be used to effectively manipulate other mental processes.

Learning digital innovation

Purpose This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Design/methodology/approach Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Findings There has always been a mystique surrounding innovation that for many firms has no doubt hampered its development, and there are a number of probable causes for this. Innovation itself is seen as less of a process and more of a magic trick, to be conjured up on the spot or following a lightning bolt of inspiration. Innovators are imagined to be creative geniuses with the stereotyped behavior to match of a batty professor or aloof, turtleneck wearing idiot savant. Innovation processes are regarded as a cross between the Wizard of Oz and some hyper-expensive secret skunkworks, where people wait interminably for some amazing new product to be discharged from. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.