law of continuation
- noun
- Specialized
:
ley de continuidad
- According to the law of continuation, we tend to see a broken line as a single, unbroken path.
Examples
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Designers use the law of continuation to create visually pleasing interfaces that guide users' eyes naturally.
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In visual perception, the law of continuation explains why railway tracks appear to meet at the horizon.
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The law of continuation helps us understand how we perceive visual patterns.
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According to the law of continuation, we see lines as continuous.
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According to the law of continuation, we tend to perceive a line as unbroken, even when it is interrupted.
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The law of continuation illustrates how our brains connect separate dots into a smooth curve.
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Understanding the law of continuation can improve how artists design their compositions.
Synonyms
1
5.7
The way people see a line as going on even when it is broken
We see lines or shapes as continuing in a smooth path
Surface Forms
Morphology
law + of + continuation
The phrase is fully compositional: 'law' (a principle) combined with 'continuation' (the act or tendency to continue) yields a principle about continuation. Although the term is technical, its meaning is directly derivable from the constituent words and follows a common noun-of-noun naming pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the intended sense.
Etymology
Law of continuation comes from a simple picture: when a road or a row of dots is broken, our eyes want to 'see' one line that keeps going. That's why continuation means we expect lines or patterns to continue in the same direction rather than to look like separate pieces.