Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
Published on: November 14, 2018
The permanence of mental objects: testing magical thinking on perceived and imaginary realities
1Psychology Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK. E.Subbotsky@lancaster.ac.uk
Abstract:
This study tested participants' preparedness to acknowledge that an object could change as a result of magical intervention. Six- and 9-year-old children and adults treated perceived and imagined objects as being equally permanent. Adults treated a fantastic object as significantly less permanent than either perceived or imagined objects. Results were similar when a different type of mental-physical causality--a participant's own wish--was examined. Adults were also tested on the permanence of personally significant imagined objects (participants' images of their future lives). Although almost all participants claimed that they did not believe in magic, in test trials they were not prepared to rule out the possibility that their future lives could be affected by a magical curse.
Related Concept Videos
Magical Thinking
Perceptual Constancy
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Extrasensory Perception
Precognition involves foreseeing future events, such as predicting an accident before it happens. An example of precognition could be someone dreaming about a specific event, like a car crash, which then occurs...
Structuralism
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He employed introspection, a method...
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...

