Max Mednik

A friend of mine who's into psychology recommended the book The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, and I recently finished it. It was nice that the audio version was read by the author, and I found it to be a nice overview of the anatomy of the female brain and the resulting psychological implications. I've heard from other experts that some of the book's claims may not be 100% scientifically validated, so I took a lot of it with a grain of salt. I thought its perspective and focus on the role of hormones in guiding female behavior was really interesting nonetheless.

I'm always interested in learning more about people different than me, and I often find that women are so hard to understand and so different from us men. So books like these are always helpful in giving me new ways to understand the other half of the population.

Given the strong role of hormes that the book focuses on, I've thought about the usefulness to society of a visual indicator so that both women and the men they interact with know what day in a woman's cycle she is currently on (and have it be colored red if it's a "keep away" day and or green if it's a "happy" day). Yes, this is probably a somewhat farfetched idea, but the more we can understand about each other's context or mood, the better we can talk and negotiate with each other.

My notes on the book are below.

Intro

• 99% of genes the same
  
• Author psychiatrist 
  
• Twice as much depression in women than men
  
• Hormones
  
• Hormone states determine mood, interests
  
• Male brain states much more constant
  
• Women use different brain circuits to solve same problems
  
• Female brain compelled to communication and emotional connection, men to scoring and solitary work

Ch. 1: Birth of human brain

• Child impulses come from brain, even if parents give unisex toys
  
• Brains already different at birth
  
• Female brain in utero grows more communication center cells, males more aggression
  
• Females study faces way more
  
• Lack of facial expression very confusing to girls
  
• Girls feel more empathy
  
• Stress in utero and in first 2 years affects development a lot
  
• Urge to stay connected and get approval
  
• Girls use language of consensus
  
• Men don't seek as much connection or care about approval; way more autism in males due to brain differences
  

Ch. 2: Teen girl brain

• Hormones intensify normal behaviors
  
• Key concern is to become sexually desirable
  
• Social stress and drama main interest
  
• Exclusively interested in appearances
  
• Would happen even if no media/skinny models on TV
  
• Monthly hormone cycles in tune with ovulation
  
• Estrogen and progesterone guide emotions
  
• Same feedback and communication interpreted completely different based on day in cycle
  
• Develop close connections between girls
  
• Almost same dopamine hit from sharing secrets between girls as orgasm
  
• Communication intimacy most vital activities
  
• Boys don't need to chat as much
  
• Testosterone decreases talking
  
• Sex takes over boy's mind
  
• "Tend and befriend" (girl behavior)
  
• Hippocampus estrogen sensitive
  
• Aggression, empathy vary by day of cycle
  

Ch. 3: Love and trust

• Brains push to mate
  
• Males chasers, females choosers
  
• Brains spot healthiest mates, improving chance of reproduction
  
• Stone-age repro circuitry survived
  
• Females value social status and resources
  
• Want men 4" taller, 3 years older
  
• Men prefer physical more
  
• Quick clues to partner's fertility
  
• Women much better at reading faces and emotions
  
• Brain becomes illogical in love and ignores partner's faults
  
• Same brain states as mania, obsession, amphetamine, ecstasy drugs
  
• If lover away, literally drug withdrawal state
  
• 20 sec hug releases oxytocin which creates trust
  
• Love moves to attachment through vasopressin
  
• Females need physical touch to keep attachment; males also but less
  
• A gene codes for level of monogamy; amount of vasopressin link
  
• Rejection hurts like physical pain (same brain centers)
  
• Creates depression
  

Ch. 4: Brain below the belt

• Brain amygdala must be off for orgasm
  
• Woman must have warm feet and feel warm and comfortable to have sex
  
• Any little thing can spoil the mood
  
• Female orgasm pulls in more sperm; sperm wars
  
• Prefer body symmetry because no disease
  
• Odor and pheromone sensitivity different depending on day of month of cycle
  
• Testosterone creates sex drive in both genders
  

Ch. 5: Mommy brain

• Smelling baby pheromone creates baby lust in other females
  
• Brain changes smell, thirst, and hunger circuits during pregnancy
  
• Dads get morning sickness too
  
• Breast feeding activates special hormones
  
• Breast feeding also creates fuzzy brain, ditziness (but temporary)
  
• Amount of nurturing affects child development and passed on to children nursing their children
  

Ch. 6: Emotion, the feeling brain

• Postural, breathing mirroring
  
• Females much better at mind reading
  
• Men only notice when female cries
  
• Emotional memories not stored as well in men
  

Ch. 7: Mature female brain

• Changing hormones
  
• Mothering circuits lessen
  
• Grand-mothering important
  
• Hard working careers in menopause
  
• Estrogen replacement therapy
  
• Redefine relationships with men

This quarter, I'm lucky to be taking a class taught by Jim Stengel, the former Global Marketing Officer of P&G (the "UCLA CMO Experience"). I wrote about this class in my admissions essay, and I'm excited about finally experiencing it.

Below are my main takeaways from this week's readings and lecture.

• Firms of Endearment
  
• It's not share of wallet anymore; it's share of heart
  
• Freeman: customers are best served by companies that enjoy good relationships with all their stakeholders-employees, suppliers, the communities in which they operate, and of course, their stockholders (SRM = stakeholder relationship management)
  
• Aging population => search for meaning in life
  
• Characteristics: Endearing companies are enduring companies; Align interests of stakeholder groups; Executive salaries are modest; Open door policy at executive level; Greater employee compensation; More employee training; Lower turnover; Employees empowered to ensure customers satisfied; Hire people who are passionate about company and products; Humanize the company experience; Genuine passion for customers; Lower marketing costs and higher customer satisfaction and retention; Suppliers as partners; Honor spirit of laws; Corporate culture treated as greatest asset
• An increasing number of companies are behaving in ways that mirror the growing influence of self-actualization needs and processes that derive from our aging society.
• Effective communication: 4 principles: Principle 1: Establish a Positive Relationship (or Reinforce an Existing One) Before Getting Down to Business; Principle 2: Show Willingness to Be Vulnerable; Principle 3: Foster Reciprocal Empathy, Whereby Stakeholders Reciprocate the Company's Empathy; Principle 4: Conduct Conversations with Genuine Reciprocity
• Ideals as the ultimate growth driver
• Ideal: A business’s essential reason for being, the higher-order benefit it brings to the world; the factor connecting the core beliefs of the people inside a business with the fundamental human values of the people they serve; Not social responsibility or altruism, but a program for profit and growth based on improving people’s lives.
• Discover a brand ideal of improving people’s lives in one of five fi elds of fundamental human values.
• Build organizational culture around the brand ideal.
• Communicate the brand ideal to engage employees and customers.
  
• Deliver a near-ideal customer experience.
  
• Evaluate progress and people against the brand ideal.
  
• Coke is a happiness brand.
  
• Steve Jobs was one of the top 3 business people ever, and he was a marketer.
  
• Pampers: instead of focusing on product function, focus on what mothers actually care about
• If your ideal is high enough, it’s universal, and you just need to find a way to bring it to life around the world.
• Goal of brand: strong relationships which lead to strong loyalty
• Take what works for you in building a human relationship, and use that to build your business.
• Hardwire relationships into your business
• Marketing influences life, and life influences marketing
• 5 ideals fields of fundamental human values: joy, connect, explore, pride, impact
• Build your culture around your ideal
• Brand as culture, culture as brand
  
• Every communication is about the ideal

I recently read the book Games People Play by Eric Berne, which was originally published almost 50 years ago. It has to do with the social/psychological "transactions" that are so common in everyday interactions in personal and business settings. Though some of the example dialogue and situations were dated, almost every single "game" described is still "played" today in some form.

Introduction

• Transaction analysis
  
• Stroking: recognition one person gives another, essential for physical and psychological health
• Ego states: Parent, Child, Adult
• Game analysis: con + gimmick = response -> switch -> payoff

Transactional analysis

• Complementary vs. crossed transactions (ego state combos)
  
• Procedures
• Rituals
• Pastimes

Games

• Thesis
• Aim
• Roles
• Dynamics
• Examples
• Paradigm
• Moves
• Advantages: internal psychological, external psychological, internal social, external social, biological, existential

Life games

• Alcoholic (how bad I've been, self-castigation)
• Debtor, Try and Collect, Creditor, Try and Get Away With It (Why Does This Always Happen To Me)
• Kick Me
• Now I've Got You, You SOB
• See What You Made Me Do

Marital games

• Corner
• Courtroom
• Frigid Woman
• Harried (Housewife)
• If It Weren't For You
• Look How Hard I've Tried
• Sweetheart

Party games

• Ain't It Awful (gossip)
• Blemish
• Schlemiel
• Why Don't You -- Yes But

Sexual games

• Let's You And Him Fight
• Perversion
• Rapo/Kiss Off
• The Stocking Game
• Uproar

Underworld games

• Cops and Robbers
• How Do You Get Out Of Here
• Let's Pull A Fast One On Joey

Consulting room games

• Greenhouse (psychiatry)
• I'm Only Trying To Help You
• Indigence
• Peasant
• Psychiatry
• Stupid
• Wooden Leg (plea of insanity)

Good games

• (Benefits outweigh costs of complexity of motivations.)
• Busman's Holiday
• Cavalier
• Happy To Help
• Homely Sage
• They'll Be Glad They Knew Me

Significance of games

• Passed on from generation to generation
• Raising children = teaching them what games to play
• People pick as friends people who play the same games.
• Though they serve various functions, better to communicate in Adult-Adult ego states and avoid games (though very difficult)
• Autonomy: awareness, spontaneity, intimacy (hard to escape patterns learned in childhood from interactions with parents and games but can be liberating)

I still can't believe I'm an adult. I feel like I'm constantly learning and constantly so much less knowledgeable or skilled than those I admire and aspire to be like. Growing up is hard; being an adult-sized kid is a lot more fun. (And our toys are bigger and cooler now that we've grown up.)

Inspired by the author of The Happiness Project, I decided to write down my own secrets or lessons of adulthood that I've gathered over time. I'm sure this list will expand and morph, and it'll be interesting to see how that happens.

1. Most often, the most likely explanation is the right one. But you have to be prepared to be wrong.
2. It's much better to feel pleasantly surprised than disappointed. That's why I always operate under the assumption I'm failing and can improve; if I succeed in something, that's then a pleasant surprise. So when I take a test, I always prepare for failure and assume I got a low or average grade; if that happens, it's as expected; if I do better, it's a pleasant surprise.
3. Find advisers and service providers you can trust. Life is a lot more fun and educational (and a business can grow a lot more quickly) when you have people you can trust to help you or give advice. Doing everything (or even most things) yourself is not the right answer.
4. People are so much more important than content. Huge business deals, politics, careers -- they're all driven so much more by who knows who and networking than by talent or merit. Talent and merit are required for execution, but people and personal connections are what create the opportunities for execution.
5. Everyone thinks about themselves so much more than they think about others; everyone is just as self-conscious as you are, even (sometimes especially) extremely beautiful women. So cut yourself some slack; no one will notice all the hundreds of things you're afraid they'll notice; they're too busy with themselves.
6. Enjoy life your way; you don't have to fit in all the time.
7. Do something extremely difficult every day. Do the most difficult, annoying, bothersome task on your list every day early. It's the only way to grow.
8. Exercise is a lot more fun when it's accompanied by really good music and/or a crazy instructor or buddy.
9. Nothing calms you down and reconnects you with nature like the ocean.
10. Step up; no one else will. 99% of people don't have their shit together enough to do what they promise. Learn what you don't know, do what you promise, and get difficult shit done off your tasks towards your long-term goals -- formula for success.

Inspired by the author of The Happiness Project, I decided to write down my own top personal commandments that came to mind quickly. I'm sure this list will change over time, and it'll be interesting to see how that happens.

1. Respect and support my family and close friends.
2. Nothing is more important than health.
3. Live life for today, and cherish each moment.
4. Love exists, and it's worth a lot of work.
5. Optimism is the best attitude; there is always room for hope, and a positive demeanor can lift spirits.
6. Show your talents through behavior; be modest in your words but not your actions.
7. Strive for perfection and optimization, but be wary of premature optimization, and be ok with satisficing when it doesn't really matter. (It feels sort of zen/yoga-ish to strive towards opposite, impossible goals, but that's what creates growth.)
8. Keep myself and others to the highest standards.
9. Learn to accept myself as enough.
10. Follow through on each and every promise.
11. Never miss an opportunity to be fabulous.
12. There is something to be learned from each and every living creature. There are many people in the world who are so vastly different from me, and that's cool.
13. There is way more that I don't know than I know, and there is way more that I don't even know that I don't know than I know.
14. Never discriminate or jump to conclusions; there are always multiple possible explanations, and I should acknowledge my many natural and unavoidable biases and consciously keep them in mind.
15. I can do anything with the right effort and the right people.
16. Money is earned so it can be spent, not hoarded. It should be enjoyed for what it can produce. It is earned only so it can be spent on things that make you or others happy (including by giving it away). It is only a means to an end; learning, growth, health, improving the lives of others, family, and happiness are the bigger goals in life.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audio version of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Like books by Gary Vaynerchuk, it was read by the author, which added richness to the experience.

There were a lot of good examples in each chapter of behaviors the author tried, and I liked her overall objective of learning about and experimenting with happiness within the context of her current life situation. It was exactly the blend of psychology and philosophy that I enjoy. I especially enjoyed her use of quotes that inspired her and scientific studies that backed up some of the practices she tried. (There were also several points in the book when she sounded like one of my MBA profs -- perhaps she also got an MBA at some point or just read a lot of business books!)

Overall, through her journey in the book, the author came to learn "Four Splendid Truths" about happiness:

Four Splendid Truths

1. To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
2. One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
3. The days are long, but the years are short.
4. You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.

It was also neat to hear about her own "Personal Commandments" and "Secrets of Adulthood" -- a lot of these (and the splendid truths) resonate with me.

Twelve Personal Commandments

1. Be Gretchen.
   
2. Let it go.
   
3. Act the way I want to feel.
   
4. Do it now.
   
5. Be polite and be fair.
   
6. Enjoy the process.
   
7. Spend out.
   
8. Identify the problem.
   
9. Lighten up.
   
10. Do what ought to be done.
    
11. No calculation.
12. There is only love.
    

Secrets of Adulthood

• The best reading is re-reading.
  
• Outer order contributes to inner calm.
  
• The opposite of a great truth is also true.
  
• You manage what you measure.
  
• By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished.
  
• People don’t notice your mistakes and flaws as much as you think.
  
• It's nice to have plenty of money.
  
• Most decisions don't require extensive research.
  
• Try not to let yourself get too hungry.
  
• Even if you think they're fake, it's nice to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day.
  
• If you can't find something, clean up.
  
• The days are long, but the years are short.
  
• Someplace, keep an empty shelf.
  
• Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes a glitch.
  
• It's okay to ask for help.
  
• You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you LIKE to do.
  
• Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy.
  
• What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE.
  
• You don't have to be good at everything.
  
• Soap and water removes most stains.
  
• It's important to be nice to EVERYONE.
  
• You know as much as most people.
  
• Over-the-counter medicines are very effective.
  
• Eat better, eat less, exercise more.
  
• What's fun for other people may not be fun for you--and vice versa.
  
• People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry.
  
• Houseplants and photo albums are a lot of trouble.
  
• If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough.
  
• No deposit, no return.
  

Below are my main notes from the book.


Introduction

• Preparation
  
• Making resolutions
  
• Keeping resolutions
  

Getting started

• Midlife malaise
  
• Learn to feel grateful for ordinary day
  
• Dedicated a year to learning to be happy
  
• Decided on top 12 resolutions, one per month (reminds me of Mussar!)
  
• Working on your own happiness allows you to be a better person for others

Ch. 1: January

• Boost energy
  
• Vitality
  
• Go to sleep earlier
  
• Exercise better
  
• Toss, restore, organize
  
• Tackle a nagging task
  
• Act more energetic
  
• 1 hr. of sleep increases happiness more than $60K raise
  
• Keep the lights low around bedtime
  
• Get ready for bed well before bedtime
  
• Carried pedometer which motivated her to exercise (sounds like my FitBit!)
  
• Exercise boosts thinking
  
• Clear visible and psychic clutter
  
• Do what ought to be done (Be a man! Do the right thing!)
  
• Aspirational clutter, outgrown clutter, buyers-remorse clutter
  
• Donated and threw away a ton of clothes
  
• Nothing makes you more happy than an organized medicine cabinet
  
• 4 thermometer syndrome
  
• Don't postpone any task that takes 1 min
  
• 10 min tidying before bed
  
• Unfinished tasks also drain energy
  
• Act the way I want to feel
  
• Fake feelings until feel them

Ch. 2: February

• Remember love
  
• Marriage
  
• Quit nagging
  
• Don't expect praise or appreciation
  
• Fight right
  
• No dumping
  
• Give proofs of love
  
• Need many small positive interactions to offset one negative
  
• Partners' health and happiness converge
  
• No dumping of worries or minor troubles on partner
  
• Week of extreme nice
  
• Play one outdoor and one indoor game together
  
• Review resolutions each day and mark with checks (like Franklin)
  
• To be happy, need to feel good, feel less bad, and feel right in an atmosphere of growth
  
• Happiness is growth, striving for goals

Ch. 3: March

• Aim higher
  
• Work
  
• Launch a blog
  
• Enjoy the fun of failure
  
• Ask for help
  
• Work smart
  
• Enjoy now
  
• Happy people work more and better with others
  
• Was lawyer before chose to be writer to follow own desire
  
• Challenge and novelty give satisfaction (like blog)
  
• Small daily task more important than big single efforts

Ch. 4: April

• Lighten up
  
• Parenthood
  
• Sing in the morning
  
• Acknowledge reality of people's feelings
  
• Be a treasure house of happy memories
  
• Take time for projects
  
• Fog happiness: hard to see when up close but believe it's there
  
• Literally sing to kids in morning
  
• Make rhyming jokes instead of nagging
  
• Write down kids' feelings, literally repeat what they say so they feel heard
  
• If don't have solution, say will think about it
  
• Keep happy memories vivid, reminisce, keep mementos
  
• Happy experience: anticipate, savor, express appreciation, reminisce

Ch. 5: May

• Be serious about play
  
• Leisure
  
• Find more fun
  
• Take time to be silly
  
• Go off the path
  
• Start a collection
  
• You don't have to find fun the way others do
  
• Challenging, accommodating, relaxing fun
  
• Find happiness no matter what's around you

Ch. 6: June

• Find time for friends
  
• Remember birthdays
  
• Be generous
  
• Show up
  
• Don't gossip
  
• Make 3 new friends
  
• Number of friends biggest predictor of happiness
  
• Must have 5 true confidants
  
• Connect people to each other

Ch. 7: July

• Buy some happiness
  
• Money
  
• Indulge in a modest splurge
  
• Buy needed things
  
• Spend out
  
• Give something up
  
• Happiness from buying and from choosing not to buy

Ch. 8: August

• Contemplate the heavens
  
• Eternity
  
• Read memoirs of catastrophe
  
• Keep a gratitude notebook
  
• Imitate a spiritual master
  
• The days are long but the years are short
  
• Live in moment of present
  
• Inevitability of loss and death
  
• One sentence journal to keep record of experience and thoughts

Ch. 9: September

• Pursue a passion
  
• Books
  
• Write a novel in a month
  
• Make time
  
• Forget about results
  
• Master a new technology
  
• Accept own interests
  
• Compile own books and photo albums
  
• Self-publish (Lulu)
  
• Best occupations those that are least forced
  
• You're happy if you think you're happy

Ch. 10: October

• Pay attention
  
• Mindfulness
  
• Meditate on koans (Zen enigmatic phrases)
  
• Examine true rules (rules you live by or believe are behind proper behavior)
  
• Stimulate the mind in new ways
  
• Keep a food diary
  
• True rules: personal ideas on rules of life
  
• Play a hypnosis tape
  
• Laughter yoga
  
• "Drawing on the right side of the brain" class
  
• Music
  

Ch. 11: November

• Keep a contented heart
  
• Attitude
  
• Laugh out loud
  
• Use good manners
  
• Give positive reviews
  
• Find an area of refuge
  

Ch. 12: December

• Bootcamp perfect
  
• Follow all resolutions all the time
  
• Most important part of year: keeping and reviewing resolutions chart daily

A few days ago, I was trying to remember a line in a song I had heard about 9 months ago. I heard the song at a karaoke event, and the singer had a funny accent and demeanor. I vaguely remembered the line contained an alliteration, and with that clue, combined with the funny accent, I was able to remember the moment after about 30 seconds of thought.

It was those 30 seconds that then caused me to wonder how my brain did that. First of all, I was quite surprised I even could conjure up the memory, which was quite unimportant. Thus, the fact that I could do it in 30 seconds was surprising; however, why did it have to take 30 seconds? What was going on inside my skull? Was some huge table being scanned? Some map-reduce operation being done? Were old neural connections being dusted off and re-energized with electrical current for my old memory to be resuscitated?

What's neat is that our brain consolidates memories and continues to work on solving problems and answering search queries while we sleep. What's crazy to wonder about is what part of "us" controls it while we sleep....

As far as I know, the brain doesn't operate at a typical "clock speed" like computers do (where the clock speed dictates how often a CPU goes from instruction to instruction). But what does control how quickly our brain works? Clearly it changes in speed and function over time as we age, and its speed can deteriorate with various diseases. So there must be something biological/physical that somewhat resembles clock speed. IQ? From a quick search, this article tries to tackle this question, but at a very high level (and the article's somewhat old).

That got me thinking about another clock in our body, something a lot more like the clock on our wall and in a computer: our body's internal clock (circadian rhythm). I bet there are lessons both biologists and computer scientists can learn from each other in examining the parallels between our body's clock, our brain's "clock," and our computer's clock.

And finally, how does parallel processing work? In a computer, it's like having separate little brains that can do very basic tasks like read and store numbers and arithmetic; but in our brain, is it that multiple neural connections are being formed continuously and it's just a matter of which ones happen to grasp our attention at any one time? As far as I know, people aren't really able to take a large problem, split it up into many parallel parts, and assign those different sub-problems to separate mini-brains. Or are we? Is that what intuition does? Or does intuition just leap ahead magically to some final answer and not worry about sub-problems at all?

All of these questions fascinate me and make constantly wonder how our brains function deep inside.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions by Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde. I just finished it recently, and as a hobbyist magician and someone equally interested in psychology and neuroscience, it was an incredibly engaging read. I saw the book on display at the Skirball Museum store after seeing the Harry Houdini exhibit there (which was a really cool anniversary surprise I got!).

What I most enjoyed about the book was the tone of the authors in portraying human experience as a cognitive illusion created by our brain to promote our survival. Magicians are the cowboys that hack into our brain and mess with that illusion. How awesome is that?

I recently saw The Matrix again for the first time after about 4 years of not seeing it (I had seen it about 3 times before that), and this book had an eerie resemblance in its main lessons about the brain and the simulation of reality that it creates for our experience. The connection to magic was amazingly delicious icing on top of that cake.

I also enjoyed some of the philosophical discussions, which reminded me of an event I went to a while ago at the Center for Inquiry on magic, science, and skepticism.

Below are my main notes on the book. I'm leaving out a lot of detail with respect to effect secrets for obvious reasons. ;) Even so, this is one of my longest blog posts due to the number of interesting things I learned (and how much I enjoyed the book).

Introduction

• Book written by muggles (non-professionals) on magic
  
• First book on neuroscience of magic
  
• Why so vulnerable to sleights of mind?
  
• All secrets online; no major giveaways.
  
• Authors neurosurgeons
  
• Research on awareness
  
• Attended conference on visual illusions
  
• Sponsored illusionoftheyear.com contest (2011 winner shows change blindness)
  
• Moved conference to Las Vegas
  
• Realized magic is visual science and decided to study it
  
• Painters developed science of occlusion
  
• Neuroscience experiments clunky because subject can figure out
  
• But magic show subjects always fall for trick
  
• Scientists worked to learn magicians' techniques
  
• Friends with James Randi
  
• Met Teller, Mac King
  
• Humans have hardwired system of attention that can be hacked
  
• Magicians hack it
  
• Arthur Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
  
• The best magic show in earth is happening in your brain right now
  
• Traveled world to study magicians and even developed own show and presented it at the Magic Castle
  

Ch. 1: The woman in the chameleon dress

• Tomsoni changing assistant dress white to red using visual illusion
  
• Brain constructs reality is based on what it expects, not what it sees
  
• Humans are the result of an epic journey of evolution
  
• Brain is an amazing prediction machine
  
• Create simulation of reality in head (consciousness)
  
• You're blocking out most of what is happening around you right now
  
• Difference between psychological principles and neuroscience explanations that discuss anatomy
  
• Visual system starts with photoreceptors in eyes converting light to electrical impulses
  
• Key ability is way to see contrast
  
• Fill in scenes based on context and actually change the image based on what you expect
  
• Eye resolution only 1MP each
  
• Richness of visual experience is an illusion created by your brain
  
• Magicians take advantage of contrast detection
  
• Take advantage of after images
  
• Black art method
  
• Blacklight and black sheets against black background
  
• Camouflage

Ch. 2: The secret of bending a spoon (why magicians watch their angles)

• Learned ambitious card routine
  
• The trick that fooled Harry Houdini after seeing it 3 times
  
• Dai Vernon fooled Houdini with this
  
• Sleight means cleverness from Norse
  
• Center of vision: can only have good resolution in center of field of view (miss details in periphery)
  
• Occlusion and perspective fool you
  
• Uri Geller spoon bending, mindread
  
• James Randi debunked
  
• Amodal completion: assume object full even when partially occluded
  
• Good continuation (Gestalt)
  
• Brain constantly making up its own reality even with no input
  
• Why solitary confinement is punishment
  
• Charlatans and psychics steal money (always illusion)
  

Ch. 3: The brother who faked a dome (visual art)

• Artists invented visual science before scientists
  
• Magicians created cognitive illusions like artists made visual illusions
  
• Linear perspective
  
• Color paling
  
• Trompe l'oeil
  
• Artist painted cuppola without physical dome
  
• Grand canal in Venetian hotel
  
• Fake sky that changes color
  
• Markus Cornelis Escher drew visual illusions
  
• Impossible staircase
  
• Vision can process only one part of staircase at time
  
• Small gradual errors along staircase hidden
  
• Global perception impossible; only local
  
• Op art movement: optical art
  
• Enigma painting: illusory motion
  
• Illusion starts in eye, not brain
  
• Mona Lisa smile enigmatic
  
• Smile can be seen only when look away from mouth
  
• Peripheral vision integrates cheeks into mouth when look at eyes; when look at mouth, don't see shadows and smile
  
• Leaning tower illusion
  
• Rotating snakes illusion
  
• Some stationary patterns initiate illusory motion
  
• Standing wave of invisibility illusion
  

Ch. 4: Welcome to the show (cognitive illusions)

• Pickpocket Apollo Robbins
  
• Magic of Consciousness Symposium
  
• Patter one of most important tools
  
• Hold direct or divide attention
  
• Continually touching while asking questions and giving commands
  
• Grab wrist then squeeze creates tactile afterimage
  
• Adaptation: senses adapt and we forget soon after initial sense
  
• Magicians masterminds of cognitive sensations
  
• Attention: taking possession by mind of one of various trains of thought; implies withdrawal from others
  
• Attention cannot be divided
  
• Cocktail party effect allows your name to be heard across room
  
• Not clear how brain affects attention
  
• Eye movement circuits orient attention spotlight
  
• Magicians control attention and eyes like marionettes
  
• Overt and covert attention
  
• Head fake in sports to direct attention to wrong place
  
• Joint attention of both attention and eyes
  
• Correct eye contact is looking left eye to right eye (to not cross)
  
• Theory of Art and Magic Workshop
  
• Misdirection
  
• Localize subjects attention to specific frame
  
• Big move covers small move
  
• Doves draw attention
  
• First action keeps attention; second less focused
  
• Over the top corny jokes keep more attention
  
• Time misdirection: secret method done at different time than when key attention
  
• Habituation: repeat moves innocently then change method
  
• Less activity in brain when habituated to stimulus
  
• Tricks embedded in natural actions
  
• Action with no purpose suspicious
  
• Inform the motion
  
• Decoy actions
  
• Mirror neurons
  
• Your mind has its own virtual eye, ear, body: virtual simulation of actions in mind's body
  
• Help understand actions of others
  
• Same neurons active when watching action as doing it
  
• Autism: deficit in joint attention, not looking at people's faces
  
• Magicians rely on joint attention to manipulate people's joint attention
  
• Failure to fall for magic tricks and social misdirection could be indicator of autism
  

Ch. 5: The gorilla in your midst (more cognitive illusions)

• Personal space
  
• As far as brain concerned, personal space part of your mind's body
  
• Saccades: eye jerk movements
  
• Fixations: moments between saccades
  
• Neurons designed to detect change so must keep changing eye locations
  
• Neurons by default fire slowly (adapt to save energy)
  
• Smooth pursuit: Smooth eye movement only when teaming moving object
  
• Differentiate between smooth eye movements and saccades to control attention
  
• Fast linear gesture vs. moving arc which keeps attention
  
• Visual perception suppressed during saccades
  
• Magicians know things about attention scientists do not
  
• Overt misdirection: draw eyes to area of false interest
  
• Covert misdirection: draw attentional spotlight away but without moving eyes
  
• Inattentional blindness
  
• Change blindness: failure to remember what just seen
  
• Founder of Madrid school of magic using psychology
  
• Gorilla video
  
• Brain suppresses distractors most during difficult task
  
• Multitasking is a myth
  
• Eye tracking shows that visual attention controls seeing, not eyes -- can miss details even in eye focus
  
• Situational awareness: heightened awareness of all details around you
  
• Serial awareness, not parallel
  
• Magicians split attention to multiple places so you get distracted
  
• International Conference on Art and Science
  
• Miguel Angel Gea Spanish magician
  
• Change blindness tricks
  
• Won't notice gradual changes if have abrupt interruption in between
  
• Things slowly change without our awareness (aging)
  

Ch. 6: The ventrilloquist's secret (multisensory illusions)

• World Championship of Magic by FISM
  
• Magic Olympics
  
• Max Maven mentalist
  
• Foley artists
  
• Food tastes better when hear sounds
  
• Puff of air from "p" and "b" sounds help you understand language
  
• McGurk effect: eyes can fool ears
  
• Brain quickly merges conflicting signals
  
• Senses cross activated
  
• Phantom limb
  
• Synesthesia (hello Moonwalking with Einstein!)
  
• Auditory
  
• Time-space
  
• Mirror touch (sense touch when seeing others touch)
  
• Due to increased crosstalk between brain regions
  
• Senses separate but experience coherent
  
• Some neurons specific, some multisensory
  
• Feature integration system in brain
  
• Rapid patter and sound combos fool
  
• Terry Fator ventriloquist
  
• Ventriloquism means speaking from stomach
  
• Multisensory illusion
  
• Used by shamans and Romans to speak with g-ds
  
• Films are a form of ventriloquism
  
• Flicker fusion
  
• Persistence of vision when frame rate high enough
  
• Phi phenomenon
  
• Stroboscopic effect
  
• Story of mnemonist journalist with synesthesia who remembered details without taking notes
  

Ch. 7: The Indian rope trick (memory illusions)

• Hoax article in journal made up the trick
  
• People still reported seeing it
  
• Unreliability of memory
  
• People believe rope tricks to be true if hear them enough
  
• People confabulate true stories with false ones
  
• Magicians rewrite history when describing steps taken
  
• Misleading info given after event confuses with real story
  
• Suggestions and priming affect memory
  
• Procedural/muscle memory
  
• Declarative memory: semantic and episodic
  
• Semantic is facts
  
• Episodic is events
  
• Each time memory is used it gets stored anew and modified
  
• Flashbulb memories alter them
  
• Memory source confusion
  
• Forcing and then using language to implant false memories of freedom
  
• Crimes of memory, unreliability of eyewitnesses
  
• Mnemonic memory techniques
  
• Peg system
  
• Method of loci/memory palace
  
• Weird and outrageous images on route, interactive
  
• Mention of Joshua Foer
  
• Perils of total recall memory: Woman Who Can't Forget book about woman with perfect memory; too frustrating
  
• Hot reading: look up audience member info ahead of time online and "read mind" to discuss background (all memorized)

Ch. 8: Expectation and assumptions (how magicians makes an ass out of u and me)

• Mac King
  
• When magicians make mistakes, just glide along and reset; no one will notice
  
• When repeat tricks, keep changing method
  
• Theory of False Illusions
  
• Closing all the doors (of explanations) until only explanation is magic
  
• Brain plasticity, increasing predictive abilities
  
• Habituation through synaptic plasticity
  
• James Randi offers $1 million prize for proof of paranormal activity (not collected for 20 years)
  
• Mentalism relies on audience assumptions
  
• Priming: ethnic vs. gender priming affects test scores
  
• Reduce number of actual choices; makes mentalism possible
  
• Combine with priming
  
• Level of a person's bias measured by reaction time to concepts conflicting with their bias
  
• Magicians use bias and priming by giving hint that some method used and then showing it's not
  
• Children harder to deceive because don't have built up biases and predictions
  
• Infants younger than 9 months have little or no object permanence
  
• Infants are statistical learning machines
  
• Study: babies will look longer at impossible events than possible ones
  
• Shows they do have some object permanence concept at 3 months
  
• Theory of Mind: consider others' state of mind
  
• Sally and Anne Doll Test to see if child developed Theory of Mind
  
• Attention comes from inhibitory neurons to remove distractions
  
• Children able to take in more impulses
  
• Children have less structured sense of time
  
• Older children have linear stream of time
  
• Magicians need structure of infallible rules they can break
  
• Magic requires age 5
  
• Younger kids like coin from ear, needle through balloon, animated objects (none requires theory of mind)

Ch. 9: May the Force be with you (the illusion of choice)

• James Randi mentalist
  
• Force and lie when retelling process
  
• Mathematical forces
• One ahead principle: magician stays one step ahead of subject
  
• Flow based on choices so far (remove versus keep)
  
• Confabulate: justify choice in mind
  
• Idea: conduct choice blindness experiments using magic
  
• We are unaware of our unawareness
  
• When forced to swap choices, we will justify our rejected position and confabulate
  
• Cognitive dissonance allows magicians to make subjects feel like make free choice
  
• Free will not truly free
  
• We are always constrained by something
  
• Brain unconsciously choosing, then conscious notices it
  
• May not have free will
  
• Free will is a sophisticated cognitive illusion
  
• Our laughter at times is uncontrollable
  
• We're not in control; just along for the ride
  
• Study: We have patterned electrical brain activity seconds before a decision (electrical activity seconds before predicts decision)
  
• Brain is a correlation machine
  
• 2 effects cause illusion of free will
  
• Agency effect: you ascribe coincidences to your actions and agency; (example: think of someone and they call you at the same time)
  
• Exclusivity effect: can't think of any reason besides the one where you cause action or event; can be influenced very easily by others (example: not wanting to copy others)
  
• Free will is illusion caused by flesh
  
• Conscious will is an illusion, but morality still real
  
• Can a machine read your thoughts?
  
• fMRI research
  
• Not yet well but can in constrained situations
  

Ch. 10: Why magic wands work (illusory correlation, superstition, hypnosis, and flim flam)

• Ouiji board
  
• Satanic control
  
• Superstitious beliefs are illusory correlation
  
• Ideomotor effect: brain sends micro-impulses to muscles
  
• Ouiji cursor moves when group consensus
  
• To prove ouiji false, blindfold users
  
• Observers assume repetitions always same but never are
  
• Human compulsion to find patterns in world even when not there
  
• Illusory correlation is why some believe they are psychic
  
• We don't remember false predictions, times we were wrong
  
• Availability bias
  
• We remember our own actions more than others
  
• Conflict- and surprise-detecting brain areas
  
• Gamblers fallacy
  
• Idea that knowing past can help predict future
  
• Monte Hall problem
  
• Should always switch
  
• Doesn't match intuition
  
• Psychics learn about you before show
  
• Cold reading about reading behavior and making general statements that apply to all
  
• Cold reading teases out info by making statements that act like questions (intonation increases at end of phrase)
  
• Flatter subject
  
• Tell them what want to believe
  
• Hypnosis can work
  
• Hypnosis affects Stroop test
  
• In hypnotizable people, suggestions can change them
  
• 10-15% of people hypnotizable
  
• Placebos work
  
• Paul Zak at Claremont magician and neuroscientist
  
• Oxytocin released when trusting conman
  
• Conman shows you he trusts you which hooks you
  
• Investment fraud: mass emails "accurately" predicting outcomes by trying all variations
  
• Madoff
  
• Illusion of exclusivity
  

Ch. 11: The Magic Castle

• Neuromagicians
• Tryouts to join club
  
• Lack of women in magic
• But in Asia there are
• Judgment criteria
• Good enough to not embarrass Castle
  
• Not going to reveal secrets by accident
  
• Must know timing to demonstrate that know when magic happens
• Categories of magic
  
• Appearance
• Vanishing
• Transposition
• Restoration after destroyed
• Penetration
• Transformation
• Telekinesis, levitation, animation, spoon bend
• Mental or physical feats, mind reading, catch bullet
• Immense practice
• Motor map in brain
  
• New neural connections
• Motor maps increase in size with practice
  
• Functions move from higher level regions to lower level regions as gain expertise
• Magicians perform routine by rote
• Sleight of hand requires making move while making appearance of another
• Analyzed French drop movements scientifically
• Skilled magicians required to make ambiguous hand movements
• Acting is a required skill for magician
  
• Robert Houdin: "the magician is an actor who makes you think he has powers"
• Magicians were famous inventors
• No new tricks since 19th century
• Catching bullet
  
• Mechanical Turk: calculating machine that played chess
• magicians and spies collaborated
• Larger action covers smaller action
• Managing sight lines to do clandestine moves unseen
• Made it to Castle membership

Ch. 12: Will magic go away?

• Great magic not about secrets but about hacking the brain
• Like live music performers, tons of practice required
• Secret (like an entrepreneur's idea) is minimal component
• Exposure of secrets huge violation of group ethical standards
• Magic helps science so should cooperate more
• Should make secrets available for enlightened self interest
• Magic by expert still amazing even if know secret
• Mirror neurons link action and perception
• Get more active the more expert you are when you watch someone else do it
• Learning magic makes you like it more
• Illusions not mistake in brain design but critical to perception system
• When you look at a page in a book indoors and outdoors, it looks exactly the same. But outside 10 million times more bright and different quality of light so look is definitely not the same. 
• Brain runs 2 processes: brightness constancy and color constancy
• Your view of book page thus an illusion
• Visual illusions help you survive in complex world when you exit from the cave
• Cognitive illusions keep you alive
• Use magic to increase rate of cognitive discoveries
• Science will not make magic go away just like sunrise still looks beautiful after understood
  
• Science adds to the experience and enriches it
• Magic manipulates the core of our being
• Brain so easily fooled
• Spotligbt of attention
• Blink vs. Invisible Gorilla (intuition versus rational thinking)
• Both ideas right
• Brain signals can be weak and fuzzy
• Attention serves to change strength of signal
• Reasoning through important in order to direct attention

Epilogue

• Do one thing at a time (multitasking is a myth)
  
• Keep records of important Information immediately after event happens (memories fallible)
  
• When make mistake, move on and don't worry about being noticed (people have very limited attention width)
  
• People will tell you what you want to hear/coldreading (psychic, salesperson); try changing your story, and if the selling points change, they're not being honest
• When negotiating in personal relationships, disarm with charm (magicians' method)
  
• Don't think about something when don't want other person to know; your gaze telegraphs thoughts (eyes control other person's attention)
  
• When deciding, make list of all hard facts and intuitions and consider each one fully, then decide quickly (combining intuition and rational thinking)