AESTHETIC ILLUSION

   Also written as esthetic illusion. Both terms are indebted to the Greek verb aisthanesthai (to notice, to perceive). They are used to denote the subjective experience that the content of a work of art is real. More specifically, they are used to denote the subjective experience that the daydream embodied by the work of art is the beholder's own, and that the protagonist featuring in it is an actual person who lives in an actual world.

   References

   Burwick, F., Pape, W. (1990). Aesthetic illusion. Theoretical and historical approaches.New York, NY: W. de Gruyter.

   Balter, L. (2002). Magic and the aesthetic illusion. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 50, 1163-1196.