What is mentalism?

Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities.  Performances may appear to include telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, memory feats, deduction and rapid mathematics.  Mentalists are sometimes categorized as psychic entertainers.

Mentalists generally do not mix "standard" magic tricks with their mental feats.  Doing so associates mentalism too closely with the theatrical trickery employed by stage magicians.  Many mentalist claim not to be magicians at all, arguing that it is a different art form altogether.  The argument is that mentalism invokes belief and when presented properly, is offered as being "real"- be it a claim of psychic ability, or proof that supports other claims such as a photographic memory, being a "human calculator", the power of suggestion NLP or other skills.  Mentalism plays on the senses and a spectator's perception of tricks.