These findings support an inferential model of perception, wherein top-down expectations can be manipulated by the magician to generate vivid illusory experiences, even in the absence of corresponding bottom-up information. Nevertheless, 32% of participants reported having visual impressions of non-existent objects.

The silent videos precluded the use of false verbal suggestions, and participants were not asked leading questions about the objects. No object was presented during the final video. In the final video, participants watched the Phantom Vanish Magic Trick, a novel magic trick developed for this experiment, in which the magician pantomimed the actions of presenting an object and then making it magically disappear. Following each video, participants were asked to write a description of the events in the video. Participants watched a sequence of silent videos depicting a magician performing with a single object. While previous experiments investigating sleight-of-hand magic tricks have focused on creating false assumptions about the movement of an object in a scene, our experiment investigated creating false assumptions about the presence of an object in a scene.

3The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australiaĭrawing inspiration from sleight-of-hand magic tricks, we developed an experimental paradigm to investigate whether magicians’ misdirection techniques could be used to induce the misperception of “phantom” objects.2Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Oxford, UK.1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

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