Continuation

Continuation is the Gestalt principle that people follow lines and curves along their smoothest path.

In the example, two dotted lines cross. We see two smooth paths, not four lines meeting in the middle, because the eye keeps going in the same direction.

Designers use continuation to lead the eye, for example with a progress line that shows where a process is heading. A related cue: a card clipped by the screen edge signals that more content is there to scroll to.