Dialogues Lecture: Magic and the Brain

Popular magicians Apollo Robbins and Eric Mead spoke at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. They discussed the links between magic and neuroscience while performing tricks to support their examples. These seemingly disparate fields actually have a lot in common. Understanding human attention, perception, and awareness are key factors in crafting a magician’s skills. Similarly, neuroscientists use illusions to gain insight into the underlying brain processes and mechanisms involved in human cognition and perception. Robbins and Mead presented the desire of both fields to understand the inner workings of the brain in a fun, interactive, and dynamic discussion.