For AP teachers, this probably falls in the category of "something to do after the exam," but I think it could be fascinating: I'm reading more and more lately about partnerships between psychological researchers and magicians/illusionists and how these collaborations are producing some unexpected findings in the areas of selective attention and sensation & perception. A few examples (not an exhaustive list!)- The Nova special "Magic and the Brain" is a great place to start - introduction to some of the neuroscience-based collaborations, and great visuals.
- One of my favorite magicians is Teller (of Penn and Teller) and this WIRED magazine article is a fairly in-depth examination of some of what drives his artistic/magic/performance pieces along with some psychological connections.
- This slightly more academic Scientific American article details some of the cognitive psychology work into concepts like misdirection (those same authors maintain this summary "psychology of magic" website)
- This list of presentations from the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness is a good overview of some of the "hot topics" (Teller presented here too! He's all over. Also presenting: The Amazing Randi, one of my heroes.)
- This Psychology Today blog post describes some simple "tricks" we can all do to demonstrate principles of experimental methodology, memory, and classical conditioning
It's very possible that you have some kiddos in your classes who are/were interested in magic as a hobby, and/or a local amateur magician who wouldn't mind demonstrating some tricks for your class. If anyone uses any of this, please let me know - I'm thinking this might be our first psychology club activity next year!
image source: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-05/ff_neuroscienceofmagic?currentPage=all
posted by Rob McEntarffer
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