3/30/2023 0 Comments Monkey amazed by magic trickA further challenge is how to assess if the magic trick worked or not. Attention control is a key component of many magic tricks and getting the animal to pay attention to a human can be difficult and might limit the range of species and magic tricks that can be used in studies. ![]() Their central research questions are: can a magic trick that deceives humans fool animals as well? If so, how? Various practical challenges exist to answer these questions. They argued that it offers a new way for hypothesis testing and experimental design. In an article in Science in 2020, researchers Garcia-Pelegrin, Schnell, Wilkins, and Clayton made the case for using magic in the study of animal cognition. This suggests that at least some species are susceptible to magic. Jays and other corvids pretend to store food in various places, trying obscure the cache's true location from observers. For example, chimpanzees have been observed to deliberately look away from an object they desire as to avoid it being noticed by a competitor. Some animal species are capable of misdirection, an important skill magicians possess to trick humans. Other scientists are critical of the new field, saying it is not worthy to stand as a field of its own. Some researchers have coined terms such as neuromagic or magicology for the study of magic. Scientific interest in humans' perception of magic started only recently, in 2008. It capitalises on specific blind spots in attention and perception. Using these studies, evolutionary psychologists aim to gain insights into the evolution of perception and attention by comparing responses of different species, including humans. Researchers study the reactions of animals observing humans performing magic tricks in order to better understand animal cognition. ![]() Scientific experiments with magic effects to inform the studies of animal cognition
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