What Can Designers Learn from Magicians?
The New Scientist has a thought-provoking article on the emerging field they call Magicology that focuses on the cognitive neuroscience of magic. Over the last five years, magicians and scientists have found out they have something in common namely, an interest in understanding how the mind works. Cognitive designers also share that interest but seek not to trick audiences or develop scientific theories but instead create artifacts that are optimized for how minds really work.
The article discusses three strategies – manipulating attention, forcing and false memories that magicians exploit to make it appear as though they can violate the laws of nature. Seven specific techniques are also discussed that could be adapted by designers. These include:
1. Having people intently focused on a complex activity blocks their ability to see other things even in the same field of vision.
2. Slow circular hand motions catch and hold attention.
3. Fast straight hand motions redirected attention from one point to another.
4. Laughter suspends attention so humor can be used to shut someone’s attention off to make large moves that they would other easily detect.
5. Perception, especially vision, is strongly shaped by what we expect to see. Deception is possible by repeating an action several times but in the last repetition altering it somewhat and fooling the brain into thinking it is the same.
“In the vanishing ball illusion, for example, a magician tosses a small ball up and down while following it with his eyes. He fakes a third toss, keeping the ball in his hand but still moving his eyes as if watching it. This reliably creates the illusion of the ball being thrown upwards – then disappearing into thin air.”
6. Force a choice – “pick a card any card” where it appears the chooser has free will but in fact has been manipulated (e.g. by loading the deck) to choose in a specific way.
7. Create a false memory by explaining how something works to intentionally manipulate the recollection of it.
Magicians also use optical illusions but designers have already learned to take advantage of those. My favorite example is the use of highway chevrons to create the optical illusion that you are driving faster that you are so you slow down. But what about the other techniques of misdirection, forcing and false memory? I wonder, for example, how they could be used paternalistically (for the benefit of the customer) to improve the effectiveness of behavior change programs?
Earlier I blogged on techniques used for Sneak Attack Behavior Change where parents trick kids into eating vegetables by mixing them into otherwise pleasant tasting treats. This is another example of optical illusion but it may also create a false memory that vegetables don’t taste all that bad.
If magicians can use these techniques to baffle an intelligent mind we might be able to use them to convince the same mind to save more for retirement, get more exercise, eat a health diet or…..
