Magic in the machine: a computational magician's assistant

A human magician blends science, psychology and performance to create a magical effect. In this paper we explore what can be achieved when that human intelligence is replaced or assisted by machine intelligence. Magical effects are all in some form based on hidden mathematical, scientific or psychological principles; often the parameters controlling these underpinning techniques are hard for a magician to blend to maximise the magical effect required. The complexity is often caused by interacting and often conflicting physical and psychological constraints that need to be optimally balanced. Normally this tuning is done by trial and error, combined with human intuitions. Here we focus on applying Artificial Intelligence methods to the creation and optimisation of magic tricks exploiting mathematical principles. We use experimentally derived data about particular perceptual and cognitive features, combined with a model of the underlying mathematical process to provide a psychologically valid metric to allow optimisation of magical impact. In the paper we introduce our optimisation methodology and describe how it can be flexibly applied to a range of different types of mathematics based tricks. We also provide two case studies as exemplars of the methodology at work: a magical jigsaw, and a mind reading card trick effect. We evaluate each trick created through testing in laboratory and public performances, and further demonstrate the real world efficacy of our approach for professional performers through sales of the tricks in a reputable magic shop in London

The role of audience participation and task relevance on change detection during a card trick

Magicians utilize many techniques for misdirecting audience attention away from the secret sleight of a trick. One technique is to ask an audience member to participate in a trick either physically by asking them to choose a card or cognitively by having them keep track of a card. While such audience participation is an established part of most magic the cognitive mechanisms by which it operates are unknown. Failure to detect changes to objects while passively viewing magic tricks has been shown to be conditional on the changing feature being irrelevant to the current task. How change blindness operates during interactive tasks is unclear but preliminary evidence suggests that relevance of the changing feature may also play a role (Triesch, Ballard, Hayhoe & Sullivan, 2003). The present study created a simple on-line card trick inspired by Triesch and colleagues’ (2003) that allowed playing cards to be instantaneously replaced without distraction or occlusion as participants were either actively sorting the cards (Doing condition) or watching another person perform the task (Watching conditions). Participants were given one of three sets of instructions. The relevance of the card color to the task increased across the three instructions. During half of the trials a card changed color (but retained its number) as it was moving to the stack. Participants were instructed to immediately report such changes. Analysis of the probability of reporting a change revealed that actively performing the sorting task led to more missed changes than passively watching the same task but only when the changing feature was irrelevant to the sorting task. If the feature was relevant during either the pick-up or put-down action change detection was as good as during the watching block. These results confirm the ability of audience participation to create subtle dynamics of attention and perception during a magic trick and hide otherwise striking changes at the center of attention

A framework for using magic to study the mind

Over the centuries, magicians have developed extensive knowledge about the manipulation of the human mind—knowledge that has been largely ignored by psychology. It has recently been argued that this knowledge could help improve our understanding of human cognition and consciousness. But how might this be done? And how much could it ultimately contribute to the exploration of the human mind? We propose here a framework outlining how knowledge about magic can be used to help us understand the human mind. Various approaches—both old and new—are surveyed, in terms of four different levels. The first focuses on the methods in magic, using these to suggest new approaches to existing issues in psychology. The second focuses on the effects that magic can produce, such as the sense of wonder induced by seeing an apparently impossible event. Third is the consideration of magic tricks—methods and effects together—as phenomena of scientific interest in their own right. Finally, there is the organization of knowledge about magic into an informative whole, including the possibility of a science centered around the experience of wonder

Développer une vigilance orthographique chez les élèves à l'aide d'un dispositif didactique innovant tel que celui de « la phrase dictée du jour »

To support the students throught the development of an orthographic vigilance and allow them to correct their writing properly, it seems necessary to put in place activities in the classroom that encourage students to think about the language. It enables the student to be active in his learning in order to he apporpriates the orthographic system and improve the ideas he has on the language. A devicesuch as the "phrase dictée du jour" (a dictation of a few sentences), uses student's orthographic representations and relies ont the interaction with the others, it seems to help students create efficient procedures that they can reuse throughout writing situations in order to produce orthographically standardised texts.Afin d'accompagner les élèves dans le développement d'une vigilance orthographique et leur permettre de réviser correctement leurs écrits, il paraît nécessaire de mettre en place dans les classes des activités qui les invitent à réfléchir sur la langue. En effet, ce n'est qu'en rendant l'élève acteur de son apprentissage qu'il sera en mesure de s'approprier le système orthographique et de faire évoluer ses conceptions sur la langue. Un dispositif tel que celui de « la phrase dictée du jour », qui prend en compte les représentations des élèves en orthographe et mise sur les interactions entre pairs, semble pouvoir aider les élèves à mettre en place des procédures efficaces qu'ils pourront réutiliser lors de situations d'écriture afin de produire des textes orthographiquement normés

Étude de deux problématiques liées à l'activité notariale

Master [120] en droit, Université catholique de Louvain, 201

Hospitalisation à la demande d'un tiers (de la croyance à la réalité des internements)

DIJON-BU Médecine Pharmacie (212312103) / SudocPARIS-BIUM (751062103) / SudocSudocFranceF

More card manipulations

205 p.; 21 cm

CNC machined helically corrugated interaction region for a THz gyrotron traveling wave amplifier

This paper reports the development of a helically corrugated interaction region (HCIR) for a 100 W gyrotron traveling wave amplifier operating at a central frequency of 0.37 THz. This HCIR has a corrugation amplitude of 42 μm, with a nominal waveguide diameter of 0.760 mm. The HCIR was made by electroforming copper on a sacrificial aluminum mandrel: the latter was precision CNC milled using a 0.2 mm diameter ball nose cutter. The dispersion characteristics of the HCIR were measured and found to be in good agreement with the analytical calculation and numerical simulation. Measured insertion loss was between 2 and 4 dB

Considérations sur la fistule à l'anus chez les tuberculeux, par Arthur Hugard,...

Avec mode text

Critical period of flower bud induction in peach trees associated with shoot length and bud position

International audienc