“Well, you see! What’s a cheat magic?!”. Why do people believe in magic tricks and illusions?

Greetings, dear readers! Probably, many of you like magic tricks and illusions, although you understand that it is not real magic, this is not a fantasy film. :)

So, what does get us involved in magical illusions and enjoy "self-deception"? What happens inside our brain, when we’re experiencing something known to be impossible?

The basic mechanisms of magic are made in the fields of psychology. These include perception and persuasion, focusing, and ways of processing information. Magic just manipulates our senses, "uses cognitive loopholes."

Imagine a situation where a magician takes a coin, blows on it, and it suddenly disappears. What happens in your brain, when you experience something impossible?

The basic principle of illusionists is a very simple: say the opposite of what you are doing. This rule was invented by ancient magicians-wizards. A person, a spectator, can’t keep attention on two actions at the same time. In order to immerse the viewer into happening magic, magicians often start with some kind of legend, it even can be called as a light hypnosis. The artist then can turn attention of the engaged viewer to details, which are nothing-special for the performance. As a result of this focused state, the spectator may not pay attention to what is happening right in front of his eyes.

One of the most powerful signals that magicians use is gaze. Even newborn babies follow the gaze of another person.

Another key element of tricks is the "free choice" or "false choice" technique. Performing some actions (for example, choosing any card from a deck), a person thinks the choice is made by himself. But in reality, the magician gives him a "false choice." Pick a card, any card, and you may feel that everything is in your hands, you’re control pulling of the queen of hearts card from the magician's deck. But magicians have strategies that force their audience’s choice — from packing the deck with identical cards, to fanning out the deck with just the right timing, so that the choice becomes all but inevitable. Freedom of choice is an illusion. People are much more suggestible, than they can imagine.

Magic allows us to experience what we think is impossible. The brain is very engaged in the illusion that is happening, in order to understand it, and using almost all human senses: you need to look and follow, what is happening, listen to the magician, make a choice or take some performance attributes in hands. And for some people, this is not enough: to make sure that the coin or card is real, they are even ready to taste them.

A key feature of our brains is the construction of logical and causal relations: we need to understand what is happening, in order to process the information around us in a structured way. Something that human can’t rationally justify is considered as a fantastic, fabulous and magical phenomenon. Therefore, watching a new magical performance, a person experiences emotions of surprise, since the brain cannot identify, what is happening according to its existing patterns.

Magic tricks stopped being a simple entertainment or art a long time ago: it is also a tool for studying subconsciousness and human psychology. In general, solving tricks is certainly an amusing business, but as a rule, after solving the mystery, it looses its charm and "magic". Or does a person need to believe in miracles? :)