Browsing Research publications by Author "Watt, Caroline"
Now showing items 1-14 of 14
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Achieving the impossible : A review of magic-based interventions and their effects on wellbeing
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline (2018-12-06)Research has demonstrated that involvement with mainstream performing arts, such as music and dance, can boost wellbeing. This article extends this work by reviewing little-known research on whether learning magic tricks ... -
Belief in psychic ability and the misattribution hypothesis : A qualitative review
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline (2006-08)This paper explores the notion that people who believe in psychic ability possess various psychological attributes that increase the likelihood of them misattributing paranormal causation to experiences that have a normal ... -
Conjuring cognition : A review of educational magic-based interventions
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline (2020-03-09)For hundreds of years, magic tricks have been employed within a variety of pedagogic contexts, including promoting science and mathematics, delivering educational messaging, enhancing scepticism about the paranormal, and ... -
Conjuring up creativity: The effect of performing magic tricks on divergent thinking
Wiseman, Richard; Wiles, Amy; Watt, Caroline (2021-04-15)Research suggests that learning to perform magic tricks can promote both physical and psychological wellbeing. The current study extended this work by examining the impact of learning magic tricks on divergent thinking. A ... -
Creativity and ease of ambiguous figural reversal
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline; Gilhooly, Kenneth; Georgiou, George (2011-08)Two studies examined the relationships between self-rated and objectively measured creative ability and ease of perceiving alternative interpretations of the ambiguous Duck Rabbit figure. The studies found empirical support ... -
Dream precognition and sensory incorporation: : A controlled sleep laboratory study.
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline; Vuillaume, L. (2015-01-01)Controlled research into alleged psychic functioning can aid our understanding of the nature and limits of consciousness. Some commentators have suggested that the decline in positive results from dream precognition studies ... -
Experiencing the impossible and creativity: a targeted literature review
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline (2022-07-20)Previous work suggests that unexpected and surprising experiences (e.g., living in another culture or looking at surreal images) promotes creative thinking. This targeted literature review examines whether the inherent ... -
The eyes don't have it : Lie detection and neuro-linguistic programming
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline; ten Brinke, Leanne; Porter, Stephen; Couper, Sara-Louise; Rankin, Calum (2012-07-11)Proponents of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) claim that certain eye-movements are reliable indicators of lying. According to this notion, a person looking up to their right suggests a lie whereas looking up to their ... -
Hocus Pocus: using comics to promote skepticism about the paranormal
Wiseman, Richard; Collver, Jordan; Worth, Rik; Watt, Caroline (2021-03-08)This study investigated the potential for comics to promote skepticism about the paranormal. Participants rated their interest in comics, read a skeptical account of alleged paranormal phenomena in One of three mediums ... -
Judging a book by its cover : the unconscious influence of pupil size on consumer choice
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline (2010)Past research suggests that men perceive women with large pupils as especially attractive. We employed an innovative methodology to examine whether this effect influences consumer decision-making. A popular psychology book ... -
Of two minds: Sceptic-proponent collaboration within parapsychology
Schlitz, Marilyn; Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline; Radin, Dean (2006-08)The first author, a proponent of evidence for psychic ability, and the second, a sceptic, have been conducting a systematic programme of collaborative sceptic-proponent research in parapsychology. This has involved carrying ... -
Pedagogic prestidigitation: using magic tricks to enhance educational videos
Wiseman, Richard; Houstoun, William; Watt, Caroline (2020-07-21)Previous research suggests that magic tricks can be employed within an educational context to enhance attention, engagement, critical thinking and recall. This study builds on this work by examining the impact of incorporating ... -
Registered reports: an early example and analysis
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline; Kornbrot, Diana (2019-01-16)The recent ‘replication crisis’ in psychology has focused attention on ways of increasing methodological rigor within the behavioral sciences. Part of this work has involved promoting ‘Registered Reports’, wherein journals ... -
‘Twitter’ as a new research tool : A mass participation test of remote viewing
Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline (2010)The social networking site ‘Twitter’ was used to conduct a mass participation remote viewing ESP study. The easy accessibility of Twitter made it possible to recruit and engage a large number of participants, and to give ...