# How does this "mind-reading" trick work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-mind-reading-trick-work/710926 "2015-01-26T16:12:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-mind-reading-trick-work/710926/21 "2015-01-27T15:51:41Z")
Once when I was in high school, I was the guy in the audience that the magician called upon. He asked me for a flavor of soda. I was quite intent on answering “sarsaparilla”, but for some reason “root beer” is what came out of my mouth, and indeed that’s what his guess was. I walked away convinced that he had somehow steered me into root beer, but I could not figure out how he did it. I really wished the whole thing had been taped so I could review it and see where the steering happened. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-mind-reading-trick-work/710926/22 "2015-01-27T16:11:26Z")
It sounds similar to a trick a teacher told me about that made her students think she was a mind reader. She’d hand each student a quarter of a sheet of notebook paper and ask them to write down their name and favorite color. She then had them fold their answers in half and put them in a bag she passed around. She picked out the first one and said she couldn’t read it. Then before she picked out the second answer, she’d hold her finger up to her forehead like she was receiving psychic signals and say “I see Charlie likes red.” She’d then pull out the second answer and unfold it and show it to the class. Actually, she read the first answer just fine. She kept that answer in front of her, repeated what she read while doing the psychic act, then pulled out the second answer and switched it with the first. She had the bag in front of her so the class couldn’t see her switching. Then she’d remember the second answer she pulled out, say “I see that Lily likes yellow” and repeat the process. That’s the way to hide things in plain sight: make the setup and your actions look normal and use that to conceal the switch. ---
**Author:** ![Random\_Design](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58f4c7/32.png) [@Random\_Design](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_Design)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-mind-reading-trick-work/710926/23 "2015-01-28T08:35:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Are you certain he didn’t ask you for answers after each question was answered, only to compare at the end? Absolutely certain? (Because people tend to forget important details of tricks like this.) That’s the standard version of this trick that I know. > > For example, [here is the standard way this plays out](http://www.goodtricks.net/mind-reading-learn-to-read-mind.html). It perfectly explains why he only gives you three choices for the number at the end, and why he was wrong both times (because the last question is the one the magician is actually guessing at when they write down their first answer.) All right, I think it must be a version of this one. Thanks everyone! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-this-mind-reading-trick-work/710926.md?page=1)