What are MagicCATs?
Have you ever watched a magic trick and felt a rush of curiosity or surprise? Researchers at Hiroshima University in Japan explored this phenomenon in a unique study. They used 166 videos of magic tricks, called Magic Curiosity Arousing Tricks (MagicCATs), to understand how magic can trigger epistemic emotions—feelings that make us want to learn and discover. They had 495 people watch these tricks and rate their feelings of curiosity, surprise, and interest. Interestingly, they found that while everyone reacted differently to the tricks, factors like age and a general interest in magic played a big role in how strong these feelings were. This study not only shows us how magic can be a powerful tool to evoke learning-related emotions but also sheds light on the different ways people experience curiosity and surprise.
What are epistemic emotions?
The study "Magic Curiosity Arousing Tricks (MagicCATs): A Novel Stimulus Collection to Induce Epistemic Emotions," conducted by Hiroki Ozono and colleagues, delves into the intriguing world of epistemic emotions — feelings linked to the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge, such as curiosity, surprise, and interest. This research stands out in its innovative approach to studying these emotions within a controlled experimental environment.
Traditionally, eliciting epistemic emotions in experimental settings has been challenging. Epistemic emotions are typically stirred up by cognitive processes, demanding more than a mere presentation of stimuli. Previous studies often relied on trivia questions to evoke curiosity, but this method had limitations, especially in inducing surprise.
The researchers introduced a novel set of stimuli, MagicCATs, featuring 166 short video clips of magic tricks designed to trigger various epistemic emotions. These videos are a significant departure from conventional materials like trivia questions. Magic tricks inherently create a strong sense of expectation violation and surprise, naturally leading to curiosity and interest. The nonverbal nature of these tricks makes them universally appealing, transcending language and cultural barriers.
The study involved an extensive rating task with 495 participants via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants watched and rated the magic trick videos, providing insights into the intensity of their epistemic emotions. The findings indicated that the magic tricks successfully induced a range of epistemic emotions with enough variability for experimental use.
The results also revealed considerable individual differences in how participants reacted to different magic tricks. Age and general interest in magic were significant predictors of the intensity of epistemic emotions experienced, while gender showed no significant effect. The study suggests that these individual differences are an essential consideration for future research using MagicCATs.
This research contributes significantly to the understanding and study of epistemic emotions. MagicCATs offers a unique, effective tool for researchers, expanding the possibilities for future studies in this fascinating field of psychology. The videos and data are available for research purposes, further encouraging exploration in this area.