Reveal the secret in the magic of choosing a card

The new research shows that it is the use of psychological tricks and magicians who can make players choose their target cards.

When watching the magic show card, many of us are surprised when the magician finds the exact card that the player randomly selects.

However, the Canadian team has recently demonstrated that it is the art combination in magic and psychological science that makes the magician guess the card of the player.

Research author Jay Olson said: "At first, we didn't really understand this magic principle and always wondered how the magician could make the audience choose the card without any However, we found that these people tend to choose outstanding cards and are more likely to attract attention. "

To find the solution, the experts conducted two research phases. For the first time, Olson - also a professional magician, approached 118 people on the street, in college and asked them to choose a card after seeing magic mixing, shuffling.

However, most magicians often mix about half a deck of cards and use the technique to make one of the "target" cards stand out from the rest. Up to 98% of players have given their cards in a completely comfortable way, with no interference from people around.

But strangely, quite a lot of people have chosen the 10-card card (10 heart shape) because the "heart" is a popular symbol and has a prominent red color.

In the second phase, the researchers conducted experiments to select the card with computer support with 26 cards presented in order on the screen. Researchers ask players to silently choose a card with 28 different plays. As a result, the number of people who choose the right card of the magician's goal accounts for 30% of the game.

Although "quite high" , this rate is lower than the first study. This shows that social factors and ingenuity in controlling psychology of magician have a big influence on the choice of players' cards - co-authors - professor of psychology and computer science Ronald Rensink of the University of British Columbia shared.

He notes, in a magic show, the audience can be influenced by the characteristics of the magicians - they are extremely clever to put pressure on the player to choose the target card quickly. .

Professor Amir Raz said: "The study of magic will provide us with a different perspective on behavior as well as higher levels of brain function processing."

The video below will help you better understand this research: