文/By+Scott+Hillard+译/宋怡秋

We all like magic and more importantly， we all like to think we can work out magic tricks if we really want to. But as it turns out， even a simple card trick utilizes neuroscientific principles to trick our brain in ways that we usually can't consciously control. So what exactly is wrong with our brain？ Well nothing really， but years of evolution has left it with traits that leave it wide open to be duped1） by magic. For example ...

我们都喜欢魔术，而且更重要的是，我们都乐于相信，只要我们真的愿意，就能破解魔术的奥秘。但结果证明，即便是很简单的纸牌魔术也会运用一些神经科学的原理，使我们的大脑常常不由自主地受到愚弄。那么，我们的大脑究竟出了什么问题？唔，也没啥问题，只是长期的进化让我们的大脑形成了一些特性，为魔术的骗术花招大开方便之门。譬如以下这些……

Focus

Multitasking is a myth. The human brain simply wasn't designed to focus on two things at once and magicians take full advantage. Our attention is pulled to one thing in particular due to the "moving-spotlight" theory. In short， the theory says that our attention is like a spotlight， highlighting one thing while leaving what surrounds it in the dark. When an item or action is within the spotlight， the parts of the brain involved in processing it work more efficiently， but anything beyond the spotlight is barely processed at all， at least not by our conscious mind. This allows magicians to pull a sleight of hand2） right under our noses. As long as something else is drawing our spotlight， what happens beyond it， to our brain isn't happening at all.

注意的焦点

一心多用是种误解，人类的大脑天生就不具备同时专注于两件事情的功能，而魔术师则充分利用了这一点。按照“移动的聚光灯”理论，我们的注意力会聚焦在某一特定事物上。简言之，这种理论认为人们的注意力就像聚光灯一样，在照亮一个事物的同时会令其周围的事物处在黑暗之中。当某个物体或行为处在注意中心时，参与处理这部分信息的那些大脑区域就会更加高效，而对于处于注意中心之外的事物，我们的大脑几乎完全不予理睬，至少不会有意识地去处理。这就让魔术师有机会在我们眼皮底下耍花招，因为只要有其他事物吸引了我们的注意力，那些在我们注意力之外发生的事情对我们的大脑而言就等同于根本没有发生一样。

Made Up Memories

The "misinformation effect" occurs when information we are given after an event alters our memory of it. For example， a magician asks you to choose a card from the left side of the deck3） and return it without telling him. Before the razzle-dazzle4） where he guesses your card he may say something like "Now you chose any card you wanted， correct？" And in the heat of the moment5） you will say you did. The truth is you were only given the option of the left side of the deck， but the ambiguous comments from the magician alters how you remember the trick， leaving you with a false memory， making the trick seem perhaps more incredible than it was.

编造记忆

当我们在事后获得的信息改变我们对该事情的记忆时，就产生了“错误信息效应”。比如，魔术师要求你从一副牌的左侧抽出一张，然后把牌放回去，不要告诉他牌面。在他变戏法猜出你选的是哪张牌之前，他可能会问类似“现在你选了你想要的任意一张牌，对不对？