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Minutes of the Meeting of the Harveian Society

Held on Wednesday 9 October 2019

The President welcomed guests and reminded those present that this was a private meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2019 were read and agreed. The President signed the minutes.

Ms Marilyn Davey was elected to the Membership as proposed by Dr Twigley and seconded by Dr Brown

The President reminded the membership that the Society needs new members and asked them to continue to advertise amongst their professional colleagues and friends.

The President announced that the next meeting of the Society would take place on Wednesday, 13th November 2019 and would be the Annual General Meeting followed by the Presidential Address by Dr Robin Knill-Jones MA MSc FRCP FFPH entitled

THE CLEVER THINGS INSECTS DO WITH TOXINS

and a presentation by Dr Stephen McAdoo MB BS PhD (Winner of the Buckston Brown Medal) on

THE CLEVER THINGS WE CAN DO WITH INSECT TOXINS

The President introduced Melissa Berwick, the Lister Boyd Bursary winner from 2018. Melissa gave a short presentation about her elective to Samoa, where she assisted in a variety of surgical procedures. She also noted that many illnesses affecting the local population were associated with a lack of fresh food and poor health education. Patients were often obese and suffered from hypertension and diabetes. Although the health service was doing a good job with limited resources, Western medicine was viewed with fear and distrust. The hospital was considered as a place to die. Melissa felt that the government of Samoa should promote healthy eating and improve access to fresh food. More health education in schools and the community was needed.

The President then introduced Dr Gustav Kuhn PhD who gave his lecture on ‘Experiencing the impossible: How magic works.’ Dr Kuhn is a Reader in Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London where he undertakes laboratory based research on the science of magic. Although ‘magic’ is usually considered as entertainment, in the last 10-5years he has used it to explore the human mind and its interaction with consciousness & free will.

In a demonstration of a conjuring trick using 2 cups and 2 balls, he pointed out that psychological tricks were used to confuse the brain and distract those watching. This gives an illusion of magic. When the attention of members of an audience is distracted, they may not see something which is actually happening in front of their eyes. It is not vision that matters but the fact that the mental capacity of the brain to assess the situation is being distracted. This has a major implication for driving a car where distraction may come from other people in the car or from use of mobile phones. People may be reluctant to stop using phones while driving because they consider they are fully aware of their surroundings. This belief can be false.

When magic tricks are viewed in an MRI scanner, the area of the brain involved was found to be the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This area usually processes and resolves general types of cognitive conflict.

The brain uses knowledge from sensory information about the context of a situation to make an assumption about what is being seen. However, this can be manipulated or misdirected. For example, a drawing of a rabbit can seem to disappear if projected onto the ‘blind spot’ of the eye. There are other blind spots that may be used to cause an illusion.

Dr Kuhn pointed out that it’s not possible to see our eyes move because the brain shuts down for a fraction of a second every time this movement occurs. This may add up to several hours a day. Perception can also change and 2 people looking at the same picture can interpret the picture differently. In addition, for some magic tricks, people may see what they expect to see.

A further point is that transmission of sight to the visual cortex takes time and although this may be as little as a tenth of a second, the ability to catch a ball involves the brain in making a guess as to where that ball will be at a future point in time. This process allows us to interact with a dynamic world.

Errors in perception and memory can have relevance for law and litigation. Seeing is said to be believing but some illusions can be powerful and the assumptions that we make about the world are not always correct. Dr Kuhn discussed the possibility that free will may not always be as free as we like to believe.

After many questions, a vote thanks was given by Dr Helen Graham.

57 Members and Guests Attended

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Dr Robin Knill-Jones Dr Elizabeth Price

President Honorary Secretary

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