Article

The Magic Grasp: Motor Expertise in Deception

Details

Citation

Cavina-Pratesi C, Kuhn G, Ietswaart M & Milner AD (2011) The Magic Grasp: Motor Expertise in Deception. PLoS ONE, 6 (2), Art. No.: e16568. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016568

Abstract
Background: Most of us are poor at faking actions. Kinematic studies have shown that when pretending to pick up imagined objects (pantomimed actions), we move and shape our hands quite differently from when grasping real ones. These differences between real and pantomimed actions have been linked to separate brain pathways specialized for different kinds of visuomotor guidance. Yet professional magicians regularly use pantomimed actions to deceive audiences. Methodology and Principal Findings: In this study, we tested whether, despite their skill, magicians might still show kinematic differences between grasping actions made toward real versus imagined objects. We found that their pantomimed actions in fact closely resembled real grasps when the object was visible (but displaced) (Experiment 1), but failed to do so when the object was absent (Experiment 2). Conclusions and Significance: We suggest that although the occipito-parietal visuomotor system in the dorsal stream is designed to guide goal-directed actions, prolonged practice may enable it to calibrate actions based on visual inputs displaced from the action.

Journal
PLoS ONE: Volume 6, Issue 2

StatusPublished
Publication date09/02/2011
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/20241
PublisherPublic Library of Science

People (1)

Dr Magdalena Ietswaart

Dr Magdalena Ietswaart

Senior Lecturer, Psychology