International Law

How Magicians "Trick" the Mind

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Can we learn about fraud from magicians?

"Magicians are, first and foremost, artists of attention and awareness. They manipulate the focus and intensity of human attention, controlling, at any given instant, what we are aware of and what we are not.

They do so in part by employing bewildering combinations of visual illusions (such as afterimages), optical illusions (smoke and mirrors), special effects (explosions, fake gunshots, precisely timed lighting controls), sleight of hand, secret devices and mechanical artifacts ("gimmicks").

But the most versatile instrument in their bag of tricks may be the ability to create cognitive illusions.

Like visual illusions, cognitive illusions mask the perception of physical reality.

Yet unlike visual illusions, cognitive illusions are not sensory in nature.

Rather they involve high-level functions such as attention, memory and causal inference.

With all those tools at their disposal, well-practiced magicians make it virtually impossible to follow the physics of what is actually happening--leaving the impression that the only explanation for the events is magic."

I am increasing skeptical that we can learn about the misdirection con criminals engage in from looking at the magician's tricks. On a personal level, I am disappointed because I wanted this conceptual argument to have merit so I could justify learning cool tricks!

But as neat as the magician's misdirections are, I am not sure they highlight how con criminals fool people. I could be convinced otherwise.

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on November 25, 2008 (boomark / email).