第2710期:What can magic teach us about the brain

You've probably seen the impossible happen, or at least thought you have. When a magician makes a card disappear, or throws a ball into the air, only for it to vanish, it seems that they are using amazing powers. But the magic isn't happening on stage. It's actually all inside your brain.您可能看到了不可能发生的事情，或者至少认为自己有。 当魔术师使卡片消失或将球扔到空中时，只是为了消失时，他们似乎正在使用惊人的力量。 但是魔术并没有在舞台上发生。 实际上，它全部都在您的大脑内。These illusions work because of essential processes that happen in our brains. Our senses provide an enormous amount of information about our surroundings. Our brains have evolved ways of prioritising what's important. We tend to notice the things that are most significant and remember those which have most meaning for us. What we perceive that we see or remember that we saw is actually a mental image.这些幻觉是因为我们大脑中发生的基本过程而起作用。 我们的感官提供了有关周围环境的大量信息。 我们的大脑发展了优先考虑重要的方法的方法。 我们倾向于注意到最重要的事物，并记住那些对我们最有意义的事物。 我们认为我们看到或记得我们看到的实际上是一种心理形象。These mental processes are exploited by illusionists to trick us into perceiving things in a particular way. In one famous trick, a ball is thrown into the air twice and caught and then vanishes into thin air on the third throw. This third throw is actually just a hand movement. Our brains predict that the ball will leave the magician's hand so we think we see it. The same process makes a dog run for a stick when we pretend to throw it.这些心理过程被幻觉者利用，以欺骗我们以特定方式感知事物。 在一个著名的技巧中，将一个球扔到空中两次，然后抓住，然后在第三次掷球中消失在稀薄的空气中。 第三掷实际上只是手动。 我们的大脑预测球将离开魔术师的手，所以我们认为我们看到了它。 当我们假装扔掉它时，同样的过程使狗跑步。During a magic show, we are often manipulated to think that we have a freer choice than we actually do. Magician-turned-psychologist Gustav Kuhn highlights how a performer's gaze can direct our attention towards some things and divert it away from others. Even babies naturally tend to follow where someone is looking.在魔术表演中，我们经常被操纵认为我们有比实际选择更自由的选择。 魔术师转变为心理学家古斯塔夫·库恩（Gustav Kuhn）强调了表演者的凝视如何将我们的注意力转移到某些事物上，并将其转移到其他方面。 即使是婴儿也自然而然地跟随某人正在寻找的地方。Kuhn has become a researcher using the techniques behind different magic tricks to see what we can learn about how the brain works. He's even teamed up with a toy manufacturer to produce magic sets that explain our mental processes. Understanding these could be important because while magicians use these deceptions to entertain us, others use similar approaches to mislead us or spread disinformation.库恩（Kuhn）已使用不同魔术技巧背后的技术成为研究人员，以了解我们可以了解大脑的工作方式。 他甚至与玩具制造商合作制作了魔术套装来解释我们的心理过程。 理解这些可能很重要，因为虽然魔术师使用这些欺骗来娱乐我们，但其他人则使用类似的方法来误导我们或传播虚假信息。