Poggendorff illusion

When lines are obscured by the grey rectangle, the blue line appears to be the continuation of the black line; in fact, as shown on the right, this is incorrect.

Meaning

Noun

An optical illusion involving the misperception of the position of one segment of a transverse line that has been interrupted by the contour of an intervening structure.

Origin

Named after Johann Christian Poggendorff, journal editor who discovered the effect in figures submitted by Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner in 1860.

Modern English dictionary

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