full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alice Pailhès: Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I am fascinated by the subtle fctaors that inlufence our choices, and how urdtenanindsg our flaws can give us back some peowr. Magic tricks provide a powerful tool to iatievgnste this, and our experiments have shown that.

First, we hnaums tend to go for the easiest decisions. With the card trick I did, most people tend to choose the card that I want them to choose, because I'm presenting it a bit longer than the others. And it becomes the eiasset otoipn for your brain. In our case, the majority of you probably chose the ten of hearts, right? And a lot of other tricks are based on this principle of easy decision. Because magicians are very aware that our brain, not to say "we," tends to be a bit lazy.

Open Cloze


I am fascinated by the subtle _______ that _________ our choices, and how _____________ our flaws can give us back some _____. Magic tricks provide a powerful tool to ___________ this, and our experiments have shown that.

First, we ______ tend to go for the easiest decisions. With the card trick I did, most people tend to choose the card that I want them to choose, because I'm presenting it a bit longer than the others. And it becomes the _______ ______ for your brain. In our case, the majority of you probably chose the ten of hearts, right? And a lot of other tricks are based on this principle of easy decision. Because magicians are very aware that our brain, not to say "we," tends to be a bit lazy.

Solution


  1. power
  2. easiest
  3. influence
  4. investigate
  5. factors
  6. understanding
  7. option
  8. humans

Original Text


I am fascinated by the subtle factors that influence our choices, and how understanding our flaws can give us back some power. Magic tricks provide a powerful tool to investigate this, and our experiments have shown that.

First, we humans tend to go for the easiest decisions. With the card trick I did, most people tend to choose the card that I want them to choose, because I'm presenting it a bit longer than the others. And it becomes the easiest option for your brain. In our case, the majority of you probably chose the ten of hearts, right? And a lot of other tricks are based on this principle of easy decision. Because magicians are very aware that our brain, not to say "we," tends to be a bit lazy.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
people choose 3
final number 2
magic tricks 2


Important Words


  1. aware
  2. based
  3. bit
  4. brain
  5. card
  6. case
  7. choices
  8. choose
  9. chose
  10. decision
  11. decisions
  12. easiest
  13. easy
  14. experiments
  15. factors
  16. fascinated
  17. flaws
  18. give
  19. hearts
  20. humans
  21. influence
  22. investigate
  23. lazy
  24. longer
  25. lot
  26. magic
  27. magicians
  28. majority
  29. option
  30. people
  31. power
  32. powerful
  33. presenting
  34. principle
  35. provide
  36. shown
  37. subtle
  38. ten
  39. tend
  40. tool
  41. trick
  42. tricks
  43. understanding