Books

• Pailhès, A., & Kuhn, G. (2023). The Psychology of magic - From lab to stage. Vanishing Inc. 

• Kuhn, G. (2019). Experiencing the impossible: The science of magic. MIT Press. 

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Conference Presentations - Click here

 

​Journal articles​​

• Rappert, B. & Kuhn, G., (2025) “ ‘Toward a Theory of Exposure’ - Response to Commentaries”, Journal of Performance Magic 9(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.1708

• Kuhn, G. (in press). When science meets wonder: The art and science of magic. In E. Pöppel & Y. Bao (Eds.), Image Neuroscience and the Arts. World Scientific.

• Monachesi, B., Pecchinenda, A., & Kuhn, G. (in press). When the eyes break the (naturalistic) scene: Investigation on the eye-gaze following mechanisms in complex scenarios. Motivation and Emotion.

• Silvia, P. J., Crasson, S. J., Greengross, G., & Kuhn, G. (2025). More than just a magic trick? Exploring an audience's supernatural attributions for magicians' performances. Personality and Individual Differences, 246, 113306. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113306

• Kuhn, G., Pailhes, A. & Cole, G. G., (2025) “Expertise in magicians – testing the insight hypothesis.”, Journal of Performance Magic 9(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.1576

• Masters, P., Kuhn, G., & Luff, P. (2025). Towards a framework for detecting deceptive contextual and behavioural signals. Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop (SSP), 

• Kuhn, G., Rustrick, E., Pattundeen, S. K. & Chamberian, R., (2025) “The enjoyment of live magic and it’s relation to other forms of entertainment”, Journal of Performance Magic 8(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.1560

• Wincza, R., & Kuhn, G. (2025). Challenging magicians’ intuitive insights: The role of audience participation in experiencing a magic trick. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000762

• Cole, G. G., & Kuhn, G. (2024). What Can Conjuring Tell Us About Cognition? The Future of the Science of Magic. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 34(1), 64-70. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214241300107 (Original work published 2025)

• Smith, W.,  Masters,P., Liu,J.J., Kuhn, G., & Kelly, R.M. (2024). Explaining the inexplicable: a study of people's reactions to futuristic AI. In Proceedings of OZCHI Nov 30 - Dec 4, 2024 (OzCHI'24). ACM, New York, NY, USA.

• Barnhart, A. S., Tuchel, S., Kuhn, G. & Simons, D.J. (in press). Identifying the boundaries of magic: A qualitative study of expert magicians. Journal of Performance Magic.

• Rappert, B. & Kuhn, G. (2024) “Toward a Theory of Exposure ”, Journal of Performance Magic 7(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.1512

• Kuhn, G., Gibgot, T., Thomas, C., & Ekroll, V. (2024). Magic for the blind: are auditory tricks impossible? Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.001 

• Pailhès, A., Olson, J., & Kuhn, (2023). What Can Magic and Science Tell Us About the Experience of Thought Insertion?', in Pablo Lopez-Silva, and Tom McClelland (eds), Intruders in the Mind: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Thought Insertion (Oxford, 2023; online edn, Oxford Academic, 1 Oct. 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780192896162.003.0013

• Kuhn, G., Pailhès, A., Jay, J., & Lukian, M. (2023). Experiencing the improbable: How does the objective probability of a magic trick occurring influence a spectator’s experience? Decision, No Pagination Specified-No Pagination Specified. https://doi.org/10.1037/dec0000220 

• Pailhes, A. & Kuhn, G., (2023) “Don’t read this paper! Reverse psychology, contrast and position effects in a magician forcing technique.”, Journal of Performance Magic 7(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.1264

• Kuhn, G. (2022). Breaking’ the Magician’s Code: The Problem with Exposure Rules. VANISH, Nov&Dec

• Bagienski, S. E., & Kuhn, G. (2023). A balanced view of impossible aesthetics: An empirical investigation of how impossibility relates to our enjoyment of magic tricks. I-Perception, 14(1), 20416695221142537.  https://doi.org/10.1177/20416695221142537

• Kuhn, G., Ortega, J., Simmons, K., Thomas, C., & Mohr, C. (2023). Experiencing misinformation: The effect of pre-exposure warnings and debunking on psychic beliefs. 76(6), 1445-1456. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221116437 

• Medeiros, G. & Tompkins, M. & Bagienski, S. & Kuhn, G., (2022) “Not Just a Trick: A survey study exploring how ‘exposing’ exhibition visitors to science of magic concepts impacts their appreciation of magic”, Journal of Performance Magic 7(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.1260 

• Bagienski, S. E., Kuhn, G., Goddard, L., & de Almeida e Souza Brodtkorb, S. (2022). Mastering the impossible: Piloting an easier-than-expected magic intervention that acts as a source of self-efficacy. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 9(3), 243–256. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000332

• Pailhès, A., Lee, K., & Kuhn, G. (2022). Too perfect to be good? An investigation of magicians’ Too Perfect Theory. PeerJ, 10, e13449. doi:10.7717/peerj.13449

• Kuhn, G., Kingori, P., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2022). Misdirection – Magic, Psychology and its Application. Science & Technology Studies, 35(2), 13-29. doi:10.23987/sts.112182

• Peeters Grietens, K., Kingori, P., Friesen, P., Gerrets, R., Douglas-Jones, R., & Kuhn, G. (2022). Misdirection in Global Health: Creating the Illusion of (Im)possible Alternatives in Global Health Research and Practice. Science & Technology Studies, 35(2), 2-12. doi:10.23987/sts.115410

• Bagienski, S. E., & Kuhn, G. (2022). Supporting the psychological health of our students: An arts-based community magic workshop for adapting to university life. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 9(3), 285–303. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000315

• Ortega, J., Montañes, P., Barnhart, A., & Kuhn, G. (2021). Differential Effects of Experience and Information Cues on Metacognitive Judgments About Others’ Change Detection Abilities. I-Perception, 12(4), 20416695211039242. doi:10.1177/20416695211039242

• Pailhès, A., & Kuhn, G. (2021). Mind Control Tricks: Magicians’ Forcing and Free Will. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(5), 338-341. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.001

• Pailhès, A., & Kuhn, G. (2021). Reply to Cole: Magic and deception—do magicians mislead science? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(3), e2022099118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2022099118

• Pailhès, A., Rensink, R. A., & Kuhn, G. (2020). A psychologically based taxonomy of Magicians’ forcing Techniques: How magicians influence our choices, and how to use this to study psychological mechanisms. Consciousness and Cognition, 86, 103038. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2020.103038

• Pailhès, A., Kumari, S., & Kuhn, G. (2020). The magician's choice: Providing illusory choice and sense of agency with the equivoque forcing technique. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000929

• Cutting, J., Cairns, P., & Kuhn, G. (2020). Nothing else matters: Video games create sustained attentional selection away from task-irrelevant features. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 82(8), 3907-3919. doi:10.3758/s13414-020-02122-y

• Lesaffre, L., Kuhn, G., Jopp, D. S., Mantzouranis, G., Diouf, C. N., Rochat, D., & Mohr, C. (2020).Talking to the Dead in the Classroom: How a Supposedly Psychic Event Impacts Beliefs and Feelings. Psychological Reports, 0(0), 0033294120961068. doi:10.1177/0033294120961068​

• Pailhès, A., & Kuhn, G. (2020). Influencing choices with conversational primes: How a magic trick unconsciously influences card choices. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(30), 17675-17679. doi:10.1073/pnas.2000682117

• Pailhès, A., & Kuhn, G. (2020). The apparent action causation: Using a magician forcing technique to investigate our illusory sense of agency over the outcome of our choices. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73(11), 1784-1795. doi:10.1177/1747021820932916

• Pailhès, A., & Kuhn, G. (2020). Subtly encouraging more deliberate decisions: using a forcing technique and population stereotype to investigate free will. Psychological Research. 85(4), 1380-1390. doi:10.1007/s00426-020-01350-z

• Bagienski, S. and Kuhn, G. (2020). Beyond the Crossroads of magic, health, and wellbeing. World Health Organization, Public Health Panorama, 6(1), pp. 155-171.

• Mohr C, Kuhn G (2020). How stage magic perpetuates magical beliefs. In Laurens Schlicht, Carla Seemann, Christian Kassung (eds). In Mind Reading as a Cultural Practice. Perspectives on its Epistemologies, Technologies, Modes of Subjectivization, and Cultural and Political Dimensions in the Twentieth Century. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Springer Nature Switzerland (pp. 93-106).

• Spence, C., Youssef, J., & Kuhn, G. (2020). Magic on the Menu: Where Are All the Magical Food and Beverage Experiences? Foods, 9(3), 257. 

• Kuhn, G., Pailhès, A., & Lan, Y. (2020). Forcing you to experience wonder: Unconsciously biasing people’s choice through strategic physical positioning. Consciousness and Cognition, 80, 102902. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2020.102902

• Kuhn, G. & Thomas, C. (in press). What can magic reveal about the brain. Encyclopedia of Behavioural Neuroscience 2e

• Gygax, P., Thomas, C., Didierjean, A., & Kuhn, G. (2019). Are Women Perceived as Worse Magicians Than Men? Gender Bias When Evaluating Magic Tricks. Social Psychological Bulletin, 14(3). doi:10.32872/spb.v14i3.33574

• Bagienski, S., & Kuhn, G. (2019). The crossroads of magic and Wellbeing:  A review of wellbeing-focused magic programs, empirical studies, and conceivable theories. International Journal of Wellbeing, 9(2), 41-65. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v9i2.740

• Mansour, H., & Kuhn, G. (2019). Studying “natural” eye movements in an “unnatural” social environment: The influence of social activity, framing, and sub-clinical traits on gaze aversion. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(8), 1913-1925.

• Lan Y., Mohr C., Hu X., Kuhn G. (2018). Fake science: The impact of pseudo-psychological demonstrations on people’s beliefs in psychological principles. PLoS ONE 13(11): e0207629. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207629

• Lesaffre, L., Kuhn, G., Abu-Akel, A., Rochat, D., & Mohr, C. (2018). Magic Performances–When Explained in Psychic Terms by University Students. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2129.

• Mohr, C., Lesaffre, L., & Kuhn, G. (2018). Magical Potential: Why Magic Performances Should be Used to Explore the Psychological Factors Contributing to Human Belief Formation. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science. doi:10.1007/s12124-018-9459-1

• Ortega, J., Montañes, P., Barnhart, A., & Kuhn, G. (2018). Exploiting failures in metacognition through magic: Visual awareness as a source of visual metacognition bias. Consciousness and Cognition, 65, 152-168. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2018.08.008

• Scott, H., Batten, J. P., & Kuhn, G. (2019). Why are you looking at me? It’s because I’m talking, but mostly because I’m staring or not doing much. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 81, 109-118.

• Kumari, S., C.S. Deterding, and G. Kuhn. Why Game Designers Should Study Magic. in Foundations of Digital Games 2018 (FDG18). 2018. New York, NY: ACM Press.

• Thomas, C., Didierjean, A., & Kuhn, G. (2018). It is magic! How impossible solutions prevent the discovery of obvious ones?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(12), 2481-2487.

• Kuhn, G., Vacaityte, I., D'Souza, A. D. C., Millett, A. C., & Cole, G. G. (2018). Mental states modulate gaze following, but not automatically. Cognition, 180, 1-9. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.05.020

• Thomas, C., Didierjean, A., & Kuhn, G. (2018). The Flushtration Count Illusion: Attribute substitution tricks our interpretation of a simple visual event sequence. British Journal of Psychology, 109(4), 850-861. doi:doi:10.1111/bjop.12306

• Cocchini, G., Galligan, T., Mora, L., & Kuhn, G. (2018). The magic hand: Plasticity of mental hand representation. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(11), 2314-2324,  doi: 10.1177/1747021817741606

• Rissanen, O., Pitkänen, P., Juvonena, A, Räihä, P., Kuhn, G. & Hakkarainen, K. (2017).  How Has the Emergence of Digital Culture Affected Professional Magic? Professions and Professionalism. 7( 2) http://dx.doi.org/10.7577/pp.1957

• Kuhn, G., & Teszka, R. (2017). Don’t get misdirected! Differences in overt and covert attentional inhibition between children and adults. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1-9. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1277770

• Connell, C.J., Thompson, B., Kuhn, G., & Gant, N. (2016). Exercise-induced fatigue and caffeine supplementation affect psychomotor performance but not covert visuo-spatial attention. PLoS One, 11(10), e0165318.

• Kuhn, G., Olson, J. A., & Raz, A. (2016). Editorial: The Psychology of Magic and the Magic of Psychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(1358). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01358

• Sumner, E., Hutton, S.B., Kuhn, G., & Hill, E.L. (2016). Oculomotor atypicalities in Developmental Coordination Disorder. Developmental Science, n/a-n/a. doi: 10.1111/desc.12501

•  Freebody, S., & Kuhn, G. (2016). Own-age biases in adults’ and children’s joint attention: Biased face prioritization, but not gaze following! The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1-9. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1247899

• Cole, G. G., Skarratt, P. A., & Kuhn, G. (2016). Real Person Interaction in Visual Attention Research. European Psychologist (2016), 21, pp. 141-149. DOI: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000243

• Connell, C. J. W., Thompson, B., Kuhn, G., Claffey, M. P., Duncan, S., & Gant, N. (2016). Fatigue related impairments in oculomotor control are prevented by caffeine. Scientific Reports, 6, 26614. doi: 10.1038/srep26614

• Kuhn, G., & Rensink, R. A. (2016). The Vanishing Ball Illusion: A new perspective on the perception of dynamic events. Cognition, 148, 64-70. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.12.003

• Kuhn, G., Teszka, R. Tenaw, N, & Kingstone, A. (2016). Don’t be fooled! Attentional responses to social cues in a face-to-face and video magic trick reveals greater top-down control for overt than covert attention. Cognition 146 (2016) 136–142.

• Kuhn, G., Pickering, A., & Cole, G. G. (2016). Rare" Emotive Faces and Attentional Orienting. Emotion.16(1): p. 1. doi: 10.1037/emo0000050

• Rensink, R. A., & Kuhn, G. (2015). The Possibility of a Science of Magic. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01576 

• Rensink R.A. & Kuhn G. (2015). A Framework for Using Magic to Study the mind. Frontiers in Psychology. 5:1508. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01508 

• Mohr C., Koutrakis N. & Kuhn G. (2014). Priming psychic and conjuring abilities of a magic demonstration influences event interpretation and random number generation biases. Frontiers in Psychology. 5:1542. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01542  

• Kuhn, G., Caffaratti, H.A., Teszka, R., & Rensink, R. A. (2014). A Psychologically-based taxonomy of misdirection. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1392. doi: doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01392 

• Rissanen O., Pitkänen P., Juvonen A., Kuhn G. & Hakkarainen K. (2014). Professional Expertise in Magic – Reflecting on professional expertise in magic: An interview study. Frontiers in Psychology. 5:1484. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01484

• Kuhn, G., Pagano, A., Maani, S., & Bunce, D. (2015). Age-related decline in the reflexive component of overt gaze following. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68(6), 1073-1081. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2014.975257 

• Bishop, D., Kuhn, G., & Maton, C. (2014). Telling people where to look in a soccer-based decision task: A nomothetic approach. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 7(2):1, 1-13.

• Rissanen, O., Palonen, T., Pitkänen, P., Kuhn, G., & Hakkarainen, K. (2013). Personal Social Networks and the Cultivation of Expertise in Magic: An Interview Study. Vocations and Learning, 6(3), 347-365. 

• Kourkoulou, A., Kuhn, G., Findlay, J. M. & Leekam, S.R. (2013). Oculomotor difficulties in ASD: Implications for implicit contextual learning. Autism Research. 6(3) 177-189.

• Skarratt, P. A. Cole, G. G. & Kuhn, G. (2012). Visual cognition during real social interaction.  Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 196. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00196

• Kuhn, G., & Martinez, L. M. (2011). Misdirection - past, present, and the future. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5, 172.  doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00172

• Kuhn, G., Tweson, L., Mopurgo, L., Freebody, S. F., Musil, A. S., & Leekam, S. R. (2011). Developmental changes in the control of saccadic eye movements in response to directional eye gaze and arrows. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 64(10) 1919-1929. 

• Cole, G.G., Kuhn, G. Skarratt, P.A. (2011). Non-transient luminance changes do not capture attention.  Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 73, 1407-1421.

• Kuhn, G., & Tatler, B. W. (2011). Misdirected by the gap.  The relationship between inattentional blindness and attentional misdirection. Consciousness and Cognition. 20(2), 432-436.

• Laidlaw, K. E. W., Foulsham, T., Kuhn, G., & Kingstone, A. (2011). Potential social interactions are important to social attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(14), 5548-5553. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1017022108

• Kuhn, G., & Tipples, J. (2011). Increased gaze following for fearful faces. It depends on what you're looking for! Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(1), 89-95. doi: 10.3758/s13423-010-0033-1

• Cavina-Pratesi C, Kuhn G, Ietswaart M, Milner AD (2011) The Magic Grasp: Motor Expertise in Deception. PLoS ONE 6(2): e16568. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0016568 

• Cole, G. G. &  Kuhn, G.. (2010). Attentional capture by object appearance and disappearance. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(1), pp. 147-159. 

• Kuhn, G. Kourkoulou, A. Leekam, S.R. (2010). How magic changes our expectations about autism. Psychological Science, 21(10), 1487-93. 

• Cole, G. G., & Kuhn, G. (2010). What the experimenter's prime tells the observer's brain. Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 72(5), 1367-1376. 

• Kuhn, G., Benson, V., Fletcher-Watson, S., Kovshoff, H., McCormick, C. A., Kirkby, J., et al. (2010). Eye movements affirm: automatic overt gaze and arrow cueing for typical adults and adults with autism spectrum disorder. Experimental Brain Research, 201(2), 155-165. 

• Kuhn, G., & Findlay, J. M. (2010). Misdirection, attention and awareness: Inattentional blindness reveals temporal relationship between eye movements and visual awareness. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(1):136-46

• Parris, B. A., Kuhn, G., Mizon, G. A., Benattayallah, A., & Hodgson, T. L. (2009). Imaging the impossible: an fMRI study of impossible causal relationships in magic tricks. Neuroimage, 45 (3), 1033-1039. 

• Cole, G. G., Kuhn, G., Heywood, C. A., & Kentridge, R. W. (2009). The prioritization of feature singletons in the change detection paradigm. Experimental Psychology, 56 (2), 134-146. 

• Cole, G. G., & Kuhn, G. (2009). Appearance matters: Attentional orienting by new objects in the precueing paradigm. Visual Cognition, 17 (5), 755-776. 

• Cole, G. G., & Kuhn, G. (2010). Attentional capture by object appearance and disappearance. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(1), 147-159. doi: 10.1080/17470210902853522

• Kuhn, G. & Kingstone, A. (2009). Look away! Eyes and Arrows Engage Oculomotor Responses Automatically. Perception and Psychophysics. 71 (2), 314-327.

• Kuhn, G., Tatler, B. W., & Cole, G. G. (2009). You look where I look! Effect of gaze cues on overt and covert attention in misdirection. Visual Cognition, 17(6), 925-944. 

• Kuhn, G., Amlani, A. A., & Rensink R. A. (2008). Towards as science of magic. Trends in Cognitive Science. 12 (9), 349-35.

• Kuhn, G. & Tatler, B. W. Findlay J.M. Cole G. G. (2008). Misdirection in magic: Implications for the relationship between eye gaze and attention. Visual Cognition, 16(2-3), 391-405.

• Kuhn, G. & Dienes, Z. (2008).  Learning of Non-local Dependencies. Cognition. 106 (1), 184-206  

• Cole, G. G., Kuhn, G., & Liversedge, S. P. (2007). Onset of illusory figures attenuates change blindness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(5), 939-943.   

• Kuhn, G. & Benson, V. (2007). The influence of eye-gaze and arrow pointing distractor cues on voluntary eye movements. Perception & Psychophysics 69(6), 966-971  

• Kuhn, G. & Land, M. F. (2006). There's more to magic than meets the eye! Current Biology. 16 (22), R950  

• Kuhn, G. & Dienes, Z. (2006).  Differences between incidental and intentional learning of musical rules. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 59 (10), 1725–1744.

• Kuhn, G. Dienes, Z. (2005). Implicit learning of non-local musical rules. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 31(6), 1417-1432.

• Kuhn, G. & Tatler, B. W. (2005). Magic and fixation: Now you don't see it, now you do. Perception, 34, 1153-1161.​​​​​​