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The French substantive ''[[captation]]'' is a neologism coined by the French psychoanalysts Edouard Pichon and Odile Codet, from the verb ''capter''.

It was adopted by Lacan in 1948 to refer to the [[imaginary]] effects of the [[specular image]]<ref>see E, 18</ref>, and occurs regularly in his work from this point on.

The double sense of the French term nicely indicates the ambiguous nature of the power of the specular image.

On the one hand, it has the sense of 'captivation', thus expressing the fascinating, seductive power of the [[image]].

On the other hand, the term also conveys the idea of 'capture', which evokes the more sinister power of the image to imprison the [[subject]] in a disabling [[fixation.]]