How Your Brain Perceives Magicians Cutting Their Assistants in Half

Perception is key.

via Gizmodo

Let me start by describing one of the first magic tricks I learned to perform when I was a kid. Here is what the audience sees: I reach into my pocket and reveal a jumbo-sized card depicting the four of spades on one side and the ace of spades on the other side. After mumbling some magic words, I turn the card, and to the audience’s astonishment, the four of spades turns into the six of spades. I turn the card again, and now the ace of spades has turned into the three of spades. This is not the most impressive magic in the world, but it is a wonderful demonstration of how certain principles of perception can be exploited to produce magic tricks. So how is it done?

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