A very interesting article on how the brain reacts to magic.
It would be very interesting to conduct the same experment using
the kind of magic many on this forum employ. Enjoy...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/s......,00.html

Dave

One of the authors, Kuhn is a magician and can be reached at his faculty position.

There is a thread on this subject elsewhere on the café.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=27

Thanks Jonathan. I missed this the first time around and didn't realize that it was old news. I would, however, still love to see the same experement conducted at -- for example -- a seance. If given a context for the happening, would the brain react the same way? What about the absence of the "how did he do that" phase? Interesting stuff.

Dave

Cool Dave, and yes, fast MRI or PET scans are going to be a HUGE thing in cognitive psychology research.

There are citations around for findings that when a certain part of the brain is stimulated by a magnet field, the subject has a subjective experience of "significance". One might go looking for other areas which elicit deep sentimental experiences.

I wonder what part of the brain fires up when kids look at clowns up close?

Don't know if this relates to the topic, but "haunted houses" are due to extremely "bad wiring" of the electrical wires inside the house, and HEAVY presence of granite (sp?).

apparently the "magnetic field" caused by these two messes up your brain and gets you to "experience" spooky and paranormal activities....