Psychologists and neuroscientists have an unlikely ally in their quest to understand human nature: professional magicians.

“I’m going to flip through here and I want you to glance at a card in the middle,” Jay Olson tells his volunteer, offering the deck of cards in his hands. “Not the bottom one—that’s kind of simple for me—but one in the middle. Okay?”

She okays. He flips; she glances.

Olson, a graduate student in psychiatry at McGill University, puts the cards back in their box and hands it to her. “So which one did you choose?” The 10 of hearts, she tells him. “The 10 of hearts,” he repeats. “Great. So now if you could just examine the outside of the box to make sure it’s normal”—she does—“and then take that box and just close it right inside your hands.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/this-is-your-brain-on-magic/385468/