Abracadabra! How magic can help us understand animal minds By performing tricks for birds, monkeys and other creatures, researchers hope to learn how they perceive and think about their world By Betsy Mason 06.05.2024

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2024/how-magic-can-help-us-understand-animal-minds?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=a660278c77-nature-briefing-daily-20240610&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-a660278c77-50432164 A magical window into animal minds Pick a card, any card — or in this case, a worm. Researchers are using magic tricks to reveal how animals such as Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) think. For example, a sleight-of-hand called the ‘fast pass’, in which an object is tossed so quickly between two fists that the observer can’t see it, revealed that the trick also works on jays — giving new insight into their visual system. “Magic effects can reveal blind spots in seeing and roadblocks in thinking,” says cognitive scientist Nicky Clayton.