Magic tricks are often based on scientific principles although the majority of people don't relate science to magic. Some simple magic tricks make use of optical illusions distorting our perceptions of space, shapes and colors, while others use verbal and non verbal psychological techniques (hypnotic suggestions) to fiddle with our subconscious belief systems and reactions.
Simple magic tricks that fiddle with our perceptions
It is amazing how easily our brain can be deceived. A classic example of an optical illusion is the hollow face effect. The Magic Dragon cut out of paper is a nice demonstration of this type of illusion – it's eerie, his head seems to follow you around like he's alive:
It's easy to make this cute dragon so you can test it for yourself. You can download a copy of the dragon here (it's free), print it out (best in colors) and then just follow the directions how to cut and stick it together. Kids just love this stuff so why not to make one for them?
Another optical illusion fooling our light detectors, is the 'checker shadow illusion' from Edward H. Adelson Ph.D.Professor of Visual Sciences:
What color are the squares marked A and B?
I would swear and bet all my money that A is dark gray and B is light gray!
WRONG.
They are exactly the same color, would you believe that?!
I had trouble believing so I blackened out everything except the A and B squares and here is the result:
(See the original proof and explanation here)
They are indeed exactly the same. Hmm ...
This illusion is for me a reminder that not everything is what it appears to be and that human beliefs (often based on wrong perceptions) have often nothing to do with reality. And many simple magic tricks make use of this phenomenon. Changing human perceptions and beliefs is a corner stone of so called "mentalism" magic resulting in baffling and intriguing illusions.
Wednesday 14 November 2007
Simple Magic Tricks & Optical Illusions
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3 comments:
That dragon head trick is so real. Awesome. Looking forward to more great simple tricks.
Some people had a problem to see the dragon illusion, the reason was that they didn't put the dragon together correctly. The head needs to be glued so that it's white from outside and printed face should be on inside. The body has the print outside. If you put it together this way, then you can't miss this amazing optical illusion (if you don't see it straight away, just stare at dragon's eyes for a minute, then your vision will suddenly switch and wow...)
This is so cool. I would have sworn those squares were different colors! I guess it just goes to show you that you can't always believe your eyes!
~Julie
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