The Magic Grasp: Motor Expertise in Deception

Cavina-Pratesi, C.; Kuhn, G.; Ietswaart, M.; Milner, A.D.

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.

Citation

Cavina-Pratesi, C., Kuhn, G., Ietswaart, M., & Milner, A. (2011). The Magic Grasp: Motor Expertise in Deception. PLoS ONE, 6(2), Article e16568. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016568

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 24, 2012
• Journal: PLoS ONE
• Electronic ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: e16568
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016568
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1527401