stopped-clock illusion

A form of stopped clock illusion — An instance of chronostasis in which the second hand of an analog clock appears to stay still for longer than normal when looking at it for the first time.

Meanings

proper nounthe stopped-clock illusion
  1. alternativeAlternative form of stopped clock illusion.

    Do you know about the stopped-clock illusion? It demonstrates that the brain bridges the empty gaps to complete the illusion.

    2017, R.N. Sreenathan, “Consciousness”, in Om=I Am: A Novel Journey into Vedic Legacy, Partridge India, →ISBN, chapter 8 (Creation)
    5 more examples

    Clearly, by virtue of being illusions, these experiences represent a certain temporal feature of the stimulus (its relative duration in the case of the stopped-clock illusion, and location in the case of the phi phenomenon) as being other than it is.

    2015, Robin Le Poidevin, “Perception and Time”, in Mohan Matthen, editor, The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Perception, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part IV (What We Perceive), page 470

    This paper built on previous work investigating the stopped-clock illusion: The momentary sensation, when glancing at a clock with a silently advancing second hand, that the clock has stopped.

    2016, Kielan Yarrow, Derek H. Arnold, “The Timing of Experiences: How Far Can We Get with Simple Brain Time Models?”, in Bruno Mölder, Valtteri Arstila, Peter Øhrstrøm, editors, Philosophy and Psychology of Time (Studies in Brain and Mind; 9), Cham: Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland, →ISBN, part IV (The Timing of Experiences), page 196

    The uncanny swiftness of years, the ghostly silence said to characterize the experience of pilots in the fastest spy plane, positioned as they are in front of their own report, the beautiful name of a rapid eye movement, “saccade,” the so-called stopped-clock illusion, chronostasis, familiar from earliest school days, which I remember mostly in terms of awaiting dismissal, the thousands of incidents of my seeing the red second hand twitch, so it seems, backward at the moment of my consulting the austere slave clock that graces the front wall of every classroom like a seal.

    2017, Cyrus Console, Romanian Notebook, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 44

    Take saccadic masking: Without it, our experience would be full of disorienting and useless visual information. We only notice this striking fact about perception when we experience the stopped-clock illusion.

    2024, Adrian Bardon, “Idealism and Experience”, in A Brief History of the Philosophy of Time, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 48–49

    Some say time passes quickly (or slowly), whether it was 8, 10 or more minutes—how perception of time changes with awareness. There can even be an increased experience of the stopped-clock illusion.

    2024, Yusuf Kaplan, Jenni Nowlan, “Relationships in the Emerging Organisational Context”, in Kathryn Waddington, Bryan Bonaparte, editors, Developing Pedagogies of Compassion in Higher Education: A Practice First Approach (Knowledge Studies in Higher Education; 15), Cham: Springer, →ISBN, part III (Critical Reflections on Practice), chapter 11 (Reflections on Practices of Everyday Awareness and Mindfulness with Colleagues and Students), page 208
Cite this entry
APA

stopped-clock illusion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stopped-clock%20illusion

MLA

“stopped-clock illusion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stopped-clock%20illusion. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stopped-clock illusion,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stopped-clock%20illusion.

Source: stopped-clock illusion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.