I’m excited to join the Ethical Society Mid Rivers at their headquarters in Saint Charles County, Missouri to preach the science of magic!

Magic in the lab: Psychological insights from magicians

Recent years have seen widespread interest in a “science of magic” that learns from the psychological insights and methods of magicians, who are themselves informal cognitive scientists testing their hypotheses in the real world. In just the last decade, renowned magicians have authored papers meant to be read not by magicians, but by scientists who study attention and perception. In his presentation, Dr. Barnhart will discuss the long history of interaction between psychologists and magicians. Along the way, using live performance and video, he will introduce some of the techniques and theories from the world of magic that have inspired research in laboratories around the world (including his own).