Eric Cowan

Neuroscience, Magic, and Counseling

Recent findings in neuroscience have identified principles, such as attention management and change blindness, which stage magicians exploit to create illusions. Neuroscientists have also revealed how mirror neurons and oxytocin enhance the impact of magic. In other words, magicians are just as much practitioners of sleight of mind as they are of sleight of hand. We explore how magicians take advantage of these neurological processes to trick audiences and how counselors can use the same processes to enhance neuroplasticity. Magicians use techniques to narrow or misdirect attention, but counselors help expand awareness and illuminate what a client previously has dissociated, denied, or inhibited. Consequently, although a magic performance can leave a spectator mystified, counseling can leave a client transformed.