Grace’s Reviews > Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions > Status Update

“Susana’s sister, Carolina, all grown up into a slim, chestnut-haired beauty, is a supervising croupier in the casino of León, Spain.” Hey. Besties. You did not need to objectify her at all there. You haven’t done that for any of the men. What was that. What was the REASON

When you were asked to say why you have a particular preference or how you arrived at that preference, your personal self-report of your internal mental processes is confabulated. To put it bluntly you are unaware of your unawareness.” Ref: Petter Johansson and Lars Hall from Lund University

“Introspection, [Johnson] says, does not provide a direct pipeline to your unconscious mental processes. Instead, it is a process whereby you use the contents of your conscious mind to construct a personal narrative that may or may not correspond to your unconscious state.” (1/2)

“Adults can follow directions and focus, and that’s great…but children, it turns out, are much better at picking up on all the extraneous stuff that’s going on. And this makes sense. If you don’t know how the world worlds, then how do you know what to focus on? You should try to take everything in.” From John Colombo at U of Kansas. This as educational (pedagogical) psych.

“Bacon and egg ice cream (sorry, the experimenters are British)” WHEEZE

“The small aches, pains, and debilities that colonize our bodies as we age would be intolerable if suddenly imposed on a healthy twenty-year-old.” Oh yes. We know. Sudden onset chronic illness girlies are QUITE aware.

“What he calls personal space, neuroscientists know as peripersonal space. (Scientists can never resist a good game of Pun the Greco-Latin Root on the Simple Word.)” CACKLING

“How to hallucinate using Ping-Pong balls and a radio” oh thank goodness. I was wondering how to do this! So often I find myself with a Ping-Pong ball and a radio and an overwhelming desire to vividly hallucinate, and I’ve just never known quite how to bring all the pieces together.

“Young magicians should not focus on methodology at the expense of theatrics” good tip for world building and character design in magical or fantastical universes also