Stronger misdirection in a curved motion than in straight (x-post from r/science) User legatissimo, in the Magic subreddit, 03 Jan 2013
TIL that if you move an object from a point A to a point B in a curved motion, the human eye will follow the object and forget about point A (which is very useful in a sleight of hand trick), while if you move it in a rectilinear motion, the eye will more often check the point of origin again. User Djebel1, in the Today I Learned (TIL) subreddit, 03 Jan 2013
"Illusions developed by magicians are a rich and largely untapped source of insight into perception and cognition. Here we show that curved motion, as employed by the magician in a classic sleight of hand trick, generates stronger misdirection than rectilinear motion" User trot-trot, in the Reddit Science subreddit, 02 Jan 2013