Change Blindness References

[JHostler]

While “change blindness” has been leveraged in many magical contexts (card under glass, coins suddenly appearing on close-up mats, etc.), our use of this psychological principle seems focused largely on masking object placement and obscuring small discrepancies with larger actions/visuals. I’m interested in identifying published/marketed applications that tap the ability to mask large changes with smaller incremental ones, as well as those that allow for completely abrupt (and unnoticed) shifts in performing conditions or props – ala Paul Harris’s “Amnesia Switch.”

This quest was inspired by one application - with beach rocks, of all things - conjured up during a recent Lake Michigan stroll. (The “CB3” manuscript is available upon request to any interested magi.) A quick search of the Conjuring Archive for “change blindness” yields very little, as does a cursory review of my tiny library. SOOOO much untapped potential.

All thoughts/assistance appreciated.

John

[Bill Mullins]

Is the famous psychology experiment where people don't notice a gorilla walking through a basketball practice relevant to this? It was first published in D. J. Simons and C. F. Chabris, “Gorillas in Our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events,” Perception 28 (1999): 1059– 1074.

[JHostler]

I think that’s better classified as inattentional blindness, though the two phenomena (from my untrained standpoint) are closely related. Really fascinating stuff - and you see it reflected in the recent surge of discrepancy-based methods.

[Brad Henderson]

This was discussed briefly in an interview on NPR today gorilla (7-16) about distracted driving.

[Brad Henderson]

Did you see it? Be honest!!!!!

[Edward Pungot]

I remember vaguely reading a bizarre magic effect of Tony Andruzzi’s in which he performs a complete scene change of the room in which he is performing platform magick. He even goes so far as having everyone in the room do a quick costume change to roaring 20s attire. It’s no longer “the present,” but rather 1920’s Paris in some antiquated Parisian cafe. In this case the misdirection if I recall correctly was a girl popping out of a big birthday cake on stage. This is one of those “taking dead aim” at a few unsuspecting individuals in the audience. I may have read this in either a Genii tribute issue or Eugene Burger’s slim book on bizarre magic accompanied by pictures of the scene change.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/science/01angi.html

[Edwin Corrie]

There's a great Colour Changing Card Trick by Richard Wiseman that uses change blindness, on his wesbite at http://www.richardwiseman.com/quirkology/new/USA/Video_ColourChangingTrick.shtml (with a discussion and links) and published in MAGIC magazine (November 2003).

Also there was a post here on the forum a month or two ago with a link to a guy doing tricks with video editing, and at the end it turns out his shirt had been gradually changing colour the whole time. Can't find it at the moment - maybe someone remembers it.

[Edward Pungot]

Corrie’s commentary reminded me of Roberto Giobbi’s talk at the first Genii Bash where the punchline of the show portion of his talk was that he had switched the deck on them about 22 times. Needless to say it flew by everyone, as the notes were being sold-out as the explanatory talk was still in progress, a line of bamboozled magicians scrambling for their copy and Stephen Minch in the crowd taking note.

[Bill Mullins]

[Tarotist]

I actually do a sequence in a Spellbound coin routine where two duplicate copper coins are in full view. However, it just doesn't register and nobody sees a thing. The very first time I came up with the idea I showed it to that old misery Albert Goshman who grumpily growled, "Of course they will see both coins!" Luckily I ignored him and of course for several decades afterwards did it my way and to this day nobody has ever noticed it. It just doesn't register..

[Brad Henderson]

This may be the best of those

https://youtu.be/ubNF9QNEQLA?si=V0uoIeij7ftREfJy

[Marty Jacobs]

Edwin, the guy with the colour-changing T-shirt, was likely Kevin Parry. He's a very talented VFX artist. The video you mention is called The Ten Types of Magic. Kevin also filmed an explanation video: How I Tricked Millions of People.

Penn and Teller also included a routine inspired by Richard Wiseman's colour-changing card trick video in their stage show.

Marty

[EdwinCorrie]

Thanks Marty, it's good to see that again and also the explanation.

[Marty Jacobs]

No problem, Edwin. Although some magicians may disagree with me, I believe that visual effects are a valid form of magic (I have a degree in Computer Animation and SFX, so I'll admit, I'm biased). Creating these videos requires a great deal of effort and creativity, which many people may not fully appreciate. Whether we like it or not, if you publish magic on social media, you're competing with the likes of Kevin Parry and Zach King. While neither consider themselves magicians, they use terms like "magic" and "wizardry" to describe what they do, so I think some people see them as modern-day magicians.