Definition
A perceptual phenomenon in which the observer recognizes portions of an object occluded by another object.
Introduction
In the three-dimensional world, objects that are farther from the observer are often partly occluded by other objects that are closer to the observer. Although the occluded portions of the farther objects cast no optical information on the observer’s retina, they are recognized as if the occluded portions are completed, a phenomenon called amodal completion (Michotte et al. 1991). In Fig. 1a, the observer may perceive an intact disk “behind” a square by completing the portion “hidden” by the square, although the retinal image is merely a Pac-Man-like shape (three-quarters of a circle) placed adjacent to the square, with no gap between them. (If there is a gap between them, the Pac-Man-like shape will be perceived as it is, as in Fig. 1b.)
(a) An example of amodal completion...
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Ushitani, T. (2020). Amodal Completion. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1065-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1065-1
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