In 2015, Johns Hopkins did some research with babies to find out how they would react to being shown impossible things. At eleven months old, they already knew that a ball could not bounce through a solid wall and that a toy car could not drive off a block and stay floating in the air. And yet – the researchers created a little magic show to wow and surprise their adorable little subjects. Afterward, they brought several objects over to them to investigate – including the one that had done the impossible trick. The babies grabbed for the magic item much more often, they played with it – they even tried to recreate the magic that they had seen with their own eyes. Was this a special train or would it act like other toys they had at home? Over and over again, the thing that surprised them had their attention and inspired them with joy and a desire to learn more about what on earth had just happened.1
[1] https://hub.jhu.edu/2015/04/02/surprise-babies-learning/