Wiseman Richard, Houstoun William, Watt Caroline
School of Psychology and Sport Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK.
Centre for Performance Science, Royal College of Music, University of London, London, UK.
PeerJ. 2020 Jul 21;8:e9610. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9610. eCollection 2020.
Previous research suggests that magic tricks can be employed within an educational context to enhance attention, engagement, critical thinking and recall. This study builds on this work by examining the impact of incorporating magic tricks into an online educational video. Adult participants ( = 198) completed a need for cognition scale and then watched a video containing either several bespoke card tricks that had been specially devised to help tell the story of the Apollo Moon landings (Magic Video), or an almost identical video that did not contain any magic tricks (Control Video). All participants rated their levels of engagement, absorption and recall. Compared to the Control Video, the Magic Video was rated as significantly more interesting, informative and absorbing. There was no difference between the groups for recall. There was a positive correlation between participants' need for cognition scores, and the degree to which they found the Magic Video interesting, and were willing to share it with others. The theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these results are discussed, along with recommendations for future work.
先前的研究表明，魔术可用于教育情境，以提高注意力、参与度、批判性思维和记忆力。本研究在此基础上，通过考察将魔术融入在线教育视频的影响展开。成年参与者（ = 198）完成了认知需求量表，然后观看一段视频，该视频要么包含几个专门为讲述阿波罗登月故事而设计的定制纸牌魔术（魔术视频），要么是一个几乎相同但不包含任何魔术的视频（对照视频）。所有参与者对他们的参与度、投入程度和记忆力进行了评分。与对照视频相比，魔术视频被评为明显更有趣、更有信息量且更吸引人。两组在记忆力方面没有差异。参与者的认知需求得分与他们认为魔术视频有趣的程度以及愿意与他人分享的程度之间存在正相关。讨论了这些结果的理论、方法和实际意义，以及对未来工作的建议。
