Department of Neurosurgery , Barrow Neurological Institute , United States ; Department of Neurobiology , Barrow Neurological Institute , United States ; Department of Signal Theory and Communications , University of Vigo , Spain.
PeerJ. 2013 Feb 12;1:e19. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19. Print 2013.
Magic illusions provide the perceptual and cognitive scientist with a toolbox of experimental manipulations and testable hypotheses about the building blocks of conscious experience. Here we studied several sleight-of-hand manipulations in the performance of the classic "Cups and Balls" magic trick (where balls appear and disappear inside upside-down opaque cups). We examined a version inspired by the entertainment duo Penn & Teller, conducted with three opaque and subsequently with three transparent cups. Magician Teller used his right hand to load (i.e. introduce surreptitiously) a small ball inside each of two upside-down cups, one at a time, while using his left hand to remove a different ball from the upside-down bottom of the cup. The sleight at the third cup involved one of six manipulations: (a) standard maneuver, (b) standard maneuver without a third ball, (c) ball placed on the table, (d) ball lifted, (e) ball dropped to the floor, and (f) ball stuck to the cup. Seven subjects watched the videos of the performances while reporting, via button press, whenever balls were removed from the cups/table (button "1") or placed inside the cups/on the table (button "2"). Subjects' perception was more accurate with transparent than with opaque cups. Perceptual performance was worse for the conditions where the ball was placed on the table, or stuck to the cup, than for the standard maneuver. The condition in which the ball was lifted displaced the subjects' gaze position the most, whereas the condition in which there was no ball caused the smallest gaze displacement. Training improved the subjects' perceptual performance. Occlusion of the magician's face did not affect the subjects' perception, suggesting that gaze misdirection does not play a strong role in the Cups and Balls illusion. Our results have implications for how to optimize the performance of this classic magic trick, and for the types of hand and object motion that maximize magic misdirection.
魔术幻象为感知认知科学家提供了一套实验操作工具和可测试的假设，这些假设涉及意识体验的构成要素。在这里，我们研究了经典“杯子和球”魔术表演中的几种手法操作（球在倒扣的不透明杯子中出现和消失）。我们研究了一个受娱乐二人组 Penn & Teller 启发的版本，使用三个不透明的杯子，随后是三个透明的杯子进行实验。魔术师 Teller 用右手将一个小球一个一个地偷偷放入两个倒扣的杯子中的一个里面，而用左手从杯子的倒扣底部取出一个不同的球。第三个杯子的手法涉及六种操作之一：（a）标准操作，（b）没有第三个球的标准操作，（c）球放在桌子上，（d）球被提起，（e）球被扔下地板，（f）球粘在杯子上。七名受试者观看表演的视频，并通过按钮按下报告何时从杯子/桌子上取出球（按钮“1”）或何时将球放入杯子/桌子上（按钮“2”）。与不透明杯子相比，受试者对透明杯子的感知更准确。当球放在桌子上或粘在杯子上时，感知表现比标准操作差。当球被提起时，会使受试者的注视位置发生最大位移，而当没有球时，会导致最小的注视位移。训练提高了受试者的感知表现。遮住魔术师的脸并没有影响受试者的感知，这表明目光误导在杯子和球幻象中并没有起到很大的作用。我们的研究结果对如何优化这个经典魔术表演以及如何最大限度地实现手部和物体运动的魔术误导具有启示意义。
