English Explanatory Dictionary

café wall illusion

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An optical illusion in which the parallel straight dividing lines between staggered rows with alternating dark and light bricks appear to be sloped rather than parallel.

Word forms

café wall illusion café wall illusions café-wall illusion

Etymology

Described under its current name in 1973 by Richard Gregory, according to whom this effect was observed by a member of his laboratory, Steve Simpson, in the tiles of the wall of a café at the bottom of St Michael’s Hill, Bristol.

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