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Psychology Terms - Abraham Lincoln effect
The phenomenon wherein a block portrait is challenging to identify as a coherent image when observed up close, yet becomes more discernible from a distance or when the eyes are partially closed, illustrating that a reduction of detail can paradoxically enhance image recognizability. Refer to the block portrait and the corresponding image. Named by US biomedical engineer Leon D. Harmon (1922–82) after Abraham Lincoln (1809–65), the 16th US president, whose likeness he utilized to create the inaugural block portrait, published in a technical report in 1971 and in an article in Scientific American magazine in 1973.
The phenomenon wherein a block portrait is challenging to identify as a coherent image when observed up close, yet becomes more discernible from a distance or when the eyes are partially closed, illustrating that a reduction of detail can paradoxically enhance image recognizability. Refer to the block portrait and the corresponding image. Named by US biomedical engineer Leon D. Harmon (1922–82) after Abraham Lincoln (1809–65), the 16th US president, whose likeness he utilized to create the inaugural block portrait, published in a technical report in 1971 and in an article in Scientific American magazine in 1973.
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