Drawing on psychological science, magic provides a unique perspective on applied cognition. Only sparse systematic research, however, documents the thought processes associated with viewing magic tricks. With responses from over 1000 participants, here, we show how individuals construe a classic magic routine wherein a performer appears to vanish a pen. Thirty-four percent of participants correctly identified the key moment of the disappearance with only 11% thereof knowing what actions the magician actually performed to achieve the effect. Our collective findings support what magicians have known for a long time: knowing when a critical maneuver occurs hardly reveals the associated modus operandi. In line with a modern theory of attention, we discuss our results and highlight the interaction between the when and where attention modules as a necessary component of applied cognition in ecological settings.

Studying how children and adults explain magic tricks can reveal developmental differences in cognition. We showed 167 children (aged 4–13 years) a video of a magician making a pen vanish and asked them to explain the trick. Although most tried to explain the secret, none of them correctly identified it. The younger children provided more supernatural interpretations and more often took the magician's actions at face value. Combined with a similar study of adults (N = 1008), we found that both young children and older adults were particularly overconfident in their explanations of the trick. Our methodology demonstrates the feasibility of using magic to study cognitive development across the life span.

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Récemment, la recherche sur le développement cognitif fait part d’une grande source d’information concernant la responsabilité morale attribuable aux délinquants juvéniles. Cependant, l’intégration de ces connaissances dans le milieu légal demeure largement théorique. En utilisant un sondage en ligne, nous avons évalué les opinions, les croyances et les attitudes d’experts légaux et cliniques à propos de l’impact des facteurs développementaux sur la responsabilité morale des jeunes. Nos résultats suggèrent que la communauté légale est modérément consciente de la recherche émergente en science développementale portant sur la responsabilité morale des jeunes. Or le fossé entre la théorie et la pratique persiste. En ce qui a trait à la responsabilité morale des adolescents et leur capacité à subir un procès, par exemple, les policiers attribuent significativement moins d’importance aux facteurs développementaux que ne le font les experts cliniques. Nous soulignons le besoin d’un dialogue plus rapproché entre le droit et la science développementale pour favoriser la création d’un consensus et pour améliorer le traitement des jeunes délinquants.Evidence from developmental science sheds new light on legal aspects pertaining to the blameworthiness of youth ; however, incorporating these findings into the youth criminal justice system has been largely unsuccessful. Using an online survey, we probed the opinions, beliefs, and attitudes of legal and clinical specialists concerning the extent to which developmental parameters affect youth culpability and their ability to stand trial. Our findings suggest that while the majority of legal and clinical experts acknowledge the impact of developmental factors on the legal responsibility of youth, others (e.g., law enforcement) often underestimate such data. Here we outline how a closer dialogue between law professionals and developmental scientists will better facilitate a sorely overdue legal practice that fashions itself more closely after evidence-based science.Recientemente, las investigaciones sobre el desarrollo cognitivo son parte de una gran fuente de información referente a la responsabilidad moral atribuible a los delincuentes juveniles. Sin embargo, la integración de dichos conocimientos en el sistema de justicia de menores se encuentra muy limitada. Utilizando el sistema informático gratuito en línea, LimeSurvey, hemos evaluado las opiniones, las creencias y las actitudes de los expertos legales (Ej. los oficiales de policía, los abogados, los jueces) y clínicos (Ej. los psicólogos, los psiquiatras, los trabajadores sociales) en lo referente a el impacto de los factores de desarrollo sobre el nivel de responsabilidad de los jóvenes y de su aptitud a someterse a un proceso judicial. Nuestros resultados sugieren que, mientras la mayoría de los expertos legales y clínicos reconocen el rol de la ciencia del desarrollo en la justicia penal, algunos expertos (Ej. los oficiales de policía) subestiman su importancia. Nosotros sostenemos que un diálogo mas cercano entre la ci...