Cyril Thomas is an Associate Professor in Cognitive Psychology at the Marie and Louis Pasteur University in Besançon. He is also a member of the Institut Universitaire de France. His research focuses primarily on understanding both high- and low-level cognitive biases, notably using an original experimental tool: magic. Indeed, magic tricks provide psychologists with a unique and fertile ground for exploring various cognitive processes such as perception, attention, reasoning, and more. Several of his studies on visual perception and reasoning fall within this research framework. His work on perception particularly investigates the cognitive mechanisms involved in perceptual anticipation phenomena, as well as the influence of heuristics on the interpretation of unusual visual sequences. His research on reasoning mainly revolves around the phenomenon of mental fixation in problem-solving, also known as the “Einstellung effect.”
He is also the author of the book Les secrets de la prestidigitation, comment les magiciens manipulent notre esprit, published by Odile Jacob.
Thomas, C., & Didierjean, A. (2025). Les secrets de la prestidigitation : Comment les magiciens manipulent notre esprit. Paris, France : Odile Jacob.
Kuhn, G., Gibgot, T., Thomas, C., & Ekroll, V. (2024). Magic for the blind – Are auditory tricks impossible? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24, 971-973.
Begey, M., Didierjean, A. & Thomas, C. (2023). The Vanishing Coin Illusion: When sound congruence affects visual representation of motion. Attention, Perception & Pschophysics, Advance online publication.
Thomas, C., Botella, M., & Didierjean, A., (2022). Fooling System 1 in the field of perception: Failure to intuitively detect attribute substitution in the flushtration count illusion. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75, 2149–2158.
Thomas, C., Didierjean, A., & Kuhn, G. (2018). It is magic! How impossible solutions prevent the discovery of obvious ones? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 2481-2487.