Visual Organization
Module 19
Gestalt
• Developed by Max Wertheimer Kurt Koffka & Wolfgang
Köhler
• Emphasizes that we view things as a unified Gestalt = whole
or figure rather than in isolated bits and pieces
• Given a cluster of sensations, the human mind organizes them
into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
• By breaking experiences into their basic parts, something
important is lost.
What do you see?
You See the whole picture first rather than the individual dots
that make it up. – Gestalt Psychology
Scene from Ferris Bueller (start at 1:05)
A Gestalt Figure & Selective Attention
What do you see: circles with white lines, or a cube?
If you stare at the cube, you
may notice that it reverses
location, moving the tiny X in
the center from the front
edge to the back.
At times the cube may seem
to float in front of the page,
with circles behind it; other
times the circles may become
holes in the page through
which the cube appears, as
though it were floating behind
the page.
Because of selective
attention, you see only one
interpretation at a time.
Animated Necker Cube
The items floating through allow you to switch your
selective attention and thus your perception of the cube.
For a better online demo click below: Necker Cube
(Must be viewed on Firefox Internet Browser to work properly)
Temple or Tunnel?
Organizational Principles
To transform sensory information into
meaningful perceptions our perceptual
processes help us organize info so we can
answer 3 questions:
1. What is it?
2. How far away is it?
3. Where is it going?
What is It? Perception of Shape
• We primarily rely on shape to identify things in our
environment.
• Dax Experiment showed this in 3-year-olds. As
long as the object had the same shape as the original
dax, the children identified it as a dax.
How Far Away Is It?
Figure-Ground
Relationships
Figure and Ground
Gestalt Psychologists also
thought that an important
part of our perception was
the organization of a scene
in to its:
Figure—the object of
interest
Ground —the background
Pictures have reversible
figure-ground
Different neurons in the brain fire for
shapes that are figure than do for
shapes that are ground.
Another Figure-Ground Example
Do you see musicians or old people?
M.C. Escher
Merging Figure into Ground
Water or Monks?
Heads or Houses?
Rocks or Horses?
No Figure-Ground?
In or out of the picture?
What’s the Figure?
What’s the Ground?
What’s the figure in this picture?
Having trouble? Click HERE or HERE
Organizational Principles:
Gestalt Grouping Principles
- Tendency to organize figure information into
meaningful forms.
Law of Pragnanz (Simplicity)
• When several perceptual organizations are
possible, the simplest and most stable shape will
be perceived
• What do you see?
• You probably perceived this
image as that of three
overlapping squares rather than
as two six-sided objects and
one four-sided object.
Grouping - Similarity
• The tendency to place items that look similar
into a group
We perceive objects of similar
size, shape, or color as a unit or
a figure
Grouping - Proximity
• The tendency to place objects that are
physically close to each other in a
group
Our tendency perceive objects that
are close to one another as a unit or
a figure. We see three sets of two
line or two groups of three people.
Grouping – Closure
• The tendency to look at the whole by
filling in gaps in a perceptual field
Our tendency to fill in the
gaps or contours in an
incomplete image.
Completing or Connecting
the object
Grouping – Continuity
• We perceive lines as smooth continuous
patterns rather than discontinuous ones.
• Once an object appears to move in a
particular direction, your brain assumes that
the movement continues unchanged.
• Also known as Law of Good Continuation
Our tendency to group lines
that appear to follow in the
same direction as a single unit
or figure. Seeing the line as
continuous and the curves as
continuous.
Connectedness
• When they are uniformed and linked, we
perceive spots, lines, or areas as a single unit.
How would you describe
this picture?
Connectedness
• When they are uniformed and linked, we
perceive spots, lines, or areas as a single unit.
Does the line change the
way you view this?
These Grouping Principles Can
Lead us Astray…
• You probably perceive
this doghouse as a
gestalt—a whole (though
impossible) structure.
Actually, your brain
imposes this sense of
wholeness on the
picture.
• As this photo shows,
gestalt grouping
principles such as
closure and continuity
are at work here.
Impossible Figures Revealed
It’s a matter of perspective!
Check out more about how these are done HERE
More Impossible Figures
More Impossible Figures
Escher’s Impossible Scenes