Representations can very easily be connected to one another, even when they are of different types. The human mind is a powerful associative machine. Implicit association is the idea that some concepts are subconsciously related in human minds-the strength of these automatic associations can be measured using the Implicit Association Test, presented by Greenwald a series of computer monitor based categorisation tasks, where speed of reaction is correlated to strength of association. Magicians would like strong associations such as those detailed in Pavlov’s famous experiment, see Shettleworth : a dog was conditioned to associate the ringing of a bell with the appearance of food so strongly that an attendant response of salivation was produced on the ringing of the bell in the absence of food. When magicians search for an as near as possible guaranteed association in the mind of a spectator, they look, knowingly or otherwise, for a particular property of the desired mental representations that will trigger the other: if one exists, the other exists. The so called Associationist school of thinkers believe that certain sensations, associated a sufficient number of times with certain ideas, may give rise to those same ideas by mere thought alone see Hartley. How one representation may give rise to another is a complex area of study for philosophers and psychologists. Mental objects-images, sounds, words, concepts, ideas-are often, in the cognitive sciences, termed representations: cognitive symbols that represent physical realities, or cognitive processes that make use of such symbols see Von Eckardt for detailed analysis. See Corinda, Earle, and Anneman for discussions of this performance technique. ![]() During the course of a trick, these predictions may err, though should this occur, the skilled conjurer will always have an alternative method, or even trick, lined up to save the situation. What are they? Now!” Unsurprisingly, most people will name a rose in this situation. Banachek describes a number of manipulations of this kind: “It’s your anniversary, and a messenger has just delivered a large box of flowers. For example, a mentalist may ask a spectator to make a decision under time pressure, assuming that the decision making process will reduce to selecting prototypical mental representations. Mentalists (magicians concerned with the presentation of tricks that appear to rely on the workings of the human mind) sometimes rely on certain thought processes of their spectators to predict choices or behaviours.
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