PSYC304 Week 8 Notes

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PSYC304 | Lesson 8: Learning to Recognize; Gestalt Principles of Perception Introduction Topics to be covered include:  How we organize information  Gestalt and perceptual organization We tend to organize information in certain ways to help us make sense of what we encounter. These tendencies can be categorized based on how we commonly perceive stimuli, especially visual stimuli. We tend to look at things following certain rules. This is often based on what we attend to and how we attend to it. In this lesson, we will look at perceiving and attending to what our senses encounter. We will look at perceptual organization, and brain responses to perceptions. We will also look at the role attention plays in the visual perception process. What do we attend to and why? Gestalt principles provide some of the rules for how we tend to organize information perceptually. A Walk Downtown Think about a walk down the street at night in a lively neighborhood of movies, night clubs, and restaurants. How do you see the different sights? One sign flashes lights in the shape of an arrow designed to draw people into the building. When you see it, you might think you see the light moving from one bulb to the next as it travels the shape of the arrow. That is not really the case. The lights are set to turn on and off in a series that creates this illusion. Think about how you look at the buildings and the street. What draws your eyes? Do you look down the street, or off to the side? Some shops look similar, while others are very different. Some attractions stand out more than others. There is a night club that has a dark interior with spots of light color that stand out. One sign is missing some of the lights as it spells the word “Steak.” Perceptual Organization

 Combining Image Components To overcome the complexities inherent in the perceptual process, humans group objects through a process of perceptual organization . In order to understand how some objects become grouped together, the Gestalt psychologists provided answers as to how configurations are formed from smaller elements (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). The word “Gestalt” is German, and means “configuration” or “form” (King, 2012). Gestalt psychology proposes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Have you ever looked at a boat out on the water? You do not see the entire boat, yet you know that it extends below the surface of the water, and you mind fills in the missing details of this shape. We will look at how we fill in the blanks and organize what we perceive in this lesson. When we look at Gestalt, we look at how we tend to organize information. We tend to look at visual stimuli based on certain approaches. Gestalt does not explain why we do this, but it does indicate some of the ways we tend to perceive and organize information. If you look at a vase of flowers, what does it really consist of? The stems are green rectangles, the flower is composed of rounded shapes in shades of red and pink, and the vase is an almost clear oval. Is that how you see it? Probably not. Your brain fills in some of the details and creates an understanding so that you see this entire vase with flowers rather than the individual parts it is composed of. If you look at the picture, both halves of the picture have the same components. Both halves contain eyes, a mouth and the outline of a head, but they are different. One is a bit mixed up, while the other clearly shows a smiley face. So, in one half we have the parts, and in the other half we have the whole image put together. With Gestalt, we look at the whole picture, and if we need to, we fill in missing or mismatched parts to create the organized picture we identify.  Structuralism In order to understand the Gestalt approach, we need to first discuss an approach that came before Gestalt psychology, structuralism . This process suggests that perceptions are the sum of many sensations. In other words, what we perceive is made up of many different smaller sensations added together. Proponents of structuralism viewed perceptions as complex conscious experiences, while sensations are reactions to sensory stimulation. In contrast to ideas of structuralism, Gestalt psychology formed in the early 1900s noting that perception is a result of perceptual organization rather than the idea that perception was formed by cumulative sensations (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017).  Apparent Movement Rejection of structuralist ideas can be best appreciated by considering psychologist Max Wertheimer’s experience with a stroboscope that created an illusion of movement from different quick moving pictures. The psychologist wondered how experience from sensation could explain the illusion of movement. The illusion of movement from the stroboscope is called apparent movement. Apparent movement is when something appears to be moving, but is actually stagnant. Wertheimer formulated two conclusions, the first was that because there is nothing in between the dark space and the flashing lights, sensations cannot explain the movement. The

second observation, which is noted as the basic principle of Gestalt psychology is that the whole is different than the sum of its components. This observation has led psychologists to note how small elements are grouped into larger objects (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). This explains the perception of the sign with the lights following the outline of an arrow. When you look at it, it looks like the light is traveling down the arrow. In reality, apparent movement is in effect, causing us to think that the light moves rather than bulbs lighting and turning off in a sequence.  Filling in Gaps Our minds fill in the gaps when we see something. We do not see all of the details of a given stimulus, so we fill in the blanks. This process of filling in the missing or mismatching parts is called reification . We do not necessarily see an entire object, and might view it from different angles. We then complete the object in our minds based on certain principles. In some cases, this involves switching back and forth from one view to another. When we bounce back and forth between the two interpretations of the information, it is called multi-stability (Bradley, 2014). Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization 1/10  Through this questioning of structuralism, psychologists have developed a number of principles of perceptual organization , which include good continuation, pragnanz, similarity, proximity, common fate, common region, and uniform connectedness. The principle of good continuation (or continuity) holds that one’s vision will adhere to the flow of curvature or linear flow of a line. With continuity we tend to go with the easy flow of something. If you are driving, it is easier to following a road through its twists and turns than it is to stop and make a right turn, stop and make a left turn, etc. There is more continuity to the single path. When you are walking down the street, you tend to follow the straight line of the street rather than looking off to the side. Of course, if something catches your attention off to the side, you will look there. In general, we tend to go with the path of least resistance. In this image, we would be more likely to follow one of the colored lines, or roads, all the way through rather than stopping and turning to another line. In a sense, we tend to take the easiest path to completion and then go back look at another line, following it all the way through. Thus, we would follow the red line all the way through, and we would follow the black line all the way through.

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2/10  The principle of pragnanz , also called principle of simplicity, argues that we see objects in their simplest form (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). At first, using the principle of pragnanz, you might see this as just five interlocking circles. However, if you search for it, you might be able see a flower with five petals. 3/10  With the principle of closure , we look at how we fill in the blanks by combining parts to create a whole. The sign with some missing bulbs that spelled the word “steak” is an example. You did not see all of the letters because some of the bulbs were missing. Your mind closes the letters to spell the word “steak.” We fill in the missing information to complete an image (Bradley, 2014). Of course, if too much information is missing, it might not be possible for closure to occur – there must be enough information to allow the mind to fill in the rest of the information. In this picture, what do you see? Do you see some circles with a wedge removed, and the letter “V” at different angles? Or, do you fill in the blanks and see a couple of triangles forming a star? The parts of the star are not necessarily all there, but we do tend to fill in the blanks and close the picture. Our minds tend toward an image we can identify rather than a group of unrelated pieces. Our tendency to fill in this information is based on our need for solidity and order. We function better in organization as opposed to chaos. As we seek this balance, we work with the principle of symmetry (Bradley, 2014). Symmetry occurs when you walk down the street and see the same types of shops on either side, almost like mirror images. You would likely see the order in this.

4/10  How does this group of six characters look? Do you see it as six separate characters or as three pairs of symmetrical brackets. Our perceptual system favors symmetric interpretations of what we see. 5/10  On the other side of this, we tend to be drawn to what is different from or in contrast to the ordinary. The focal point is the element that is not like the others in some way that draws our attention (Bradley, 2014). When you are walking down the street, you walk by many buildings that are the normal concrete color, yet there is one building that is bright red. This building stands out and draws attention because it is a different color than the others. In this image, the eye tends to be drawn to the red heart. It acts as a contrast to the other elements, which are all similar to each other. We tend to be drawn to the different stimulus, especially in a field of similarity. 6/10  The principle of similarity refers to the idea that when we look at similar things, we tend to group them together (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). We would tend to group similar buildings

together – the night clubs would be grouped together, as would the restaurants and the theaters based on their similarity. In this image, we might see horizontal rows with a single color on a row. Or, we might see vertical columns with alternating colored circles. Based on the principle of similarity, we tend to group horizontally and based on color similarity rather than grouping in vertical columns with alternate colors. 7/10  When we group businesses because they are near each other, this refers to the principle of proximity . If there is a set of buildings grouped closely in a little cul de sac, we would see them as related based on the principle of proximity. This would be based on the fact that they are grouped together, and that there is space between the cul de sac and another set of buildings. The buildings would not need to be similar in anyway. In this image, do you see one set of three columns of black circles, or six columns of black circles? Based on the law of proximity, we tend to see each of the sets of columns as separate groups – even though they are all the same type of circle. The area of blank space creates a separation in our minds. 8/10  The principle of common fate suggests that items moving in the same direction are grouped together (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). Think about what happens when you walk down a street. If a group of people are all walking in the same direction, you would tend to group them together whether they are together or not. This would be in contrast to people walking in the other direction.

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In this image, all of the people are walking in the same direction. We tend to group all of these people together because they are moving in the same direction, even though there are differences in age, gender, and what they are wearing. Did that make a difference in how you grouped them? Or not? 9/10  In this image, we see figures on the left that might be grouped based on similarity – the circles together and the squares together. On the right, however, we see a different type of grouping based on lines that connect one square to one circle and the other square to the other circle. Note, that you will also look at the images as left and right based on the line separating the regions. Grouping together elements that are in the same region of space is the principle of common region (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). This principle is very similar to the principle of proximity, but often contains some form of separation to help create the region distinction. One restaurant has different sections divided by simple wall dividers. The people who are dining in each of these different sections are all dining in the same restaurant, but they would be grouped together based on the sections they are dining in rather than collectively as diners in the same restaurant. 10/10  Finally, the principle of uniform connectedness posits that objects that are connected will be perceived as belonging together (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). Are the people on this couch part of a group or just separate individuals needing a place to sit down? We tend to perceive them as connected or belonging together even if they are entirely different. In a sense, it is a bit of a continuation on the principle of common region. With the principle of common region, we see connection and grouping based on lines that separate objects. With the principle of uniform connectedness, we see grouping together based on the lines that pull objects together.

Perceptual Segregation 1/2  In addition to being interested in things that occur in the environment, Gestalt psychologists are interested in perceptual segregation , or the way we separate one object from another (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). Concerned with perceptual segregation, Gestalt proponents have noted the problem of figure-ground segregation , which is when we see an object usually as a figure that stands out from the background. In this picture of six knees, it is the floor in the background that stands out, looking like a six-pointed star. So, it is an either/or kind of thing – something is the object and something is the background. One of the clubs was dark with light areas. You might either focus on the dark areas of the light areas. 2/2  Using patterns such as the reversible-figure ground , an image that can be perceived in two different ways depending on which background you focus on. The images are the very similar, except that the white and black areas have been switched. As you can see, there are actually two ways to perceive each image. You might perceive a pair of faces, or you might perceive a vase. Depending on how you focus, influenced by the background color, you tend to focus on one image over the other.

Principles Emphasized over Experience When researching perceptual principles, Gestalt psychologists have minimized the idea that a person’s past experiences plays a significant role in determining perception. They have rather placed more emphasis on the fact that people tend to have built-in-principles that can override experience (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). Think about find-it puzzles where you need to find hidden pictures within the larger overall picture. This is based on meaning rather than experience. Yet, once you find a hidden object, it remains more visible than it was before you saw it. The final principle of Gestalt that we will talk about is the principle of past experience . Based on what we have just discussed about past experiences, this principle is one of the lesser gestalt principles (Bradley, 2014). While gestalt minimizes the role of past experiences, it does recognize it. While walking down the street, imagine that you see a sign with a round red light, a round yellow light, and a round green light from left to right. Based on the principle of past experience, past experiences influence how you interpret a given visual stimulus, and thus this image might seem to be a stoplight lying on its side. This image gives you the idea of how the principle of past experience will impact how you organize information. What do you see in this image? For many, the first thing that comes to mind is a traffic light on its side. This would be based on our past experience and knowledge of traffic lights. Remember that we organize information based on what we know, in addition to the other elements we have been discussing. What is in a Scene? Figure-ground formation can also affect our perception of objects in a scene. A scene is a real world setting in which objects and backgrounds are perceptually arranged in a meaningful way (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). We distinguish objects from scenes by noting which objects are active or acted upon, such as the people walking down the street, and the scenes they are acted within, such as the street itself. We recognize that what we are walking down is a street, and that we see buildings and other people. Scenes can be complex and large, but in general we easily

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recognize the gist of a scene or the important properties of scenes within a fraction of a second. The gist of a scene is based on the perceptual and semantic information a viewer is able to understand with a glance at the scene (Oliva & Torralba, 2006). This is an instantaneous process – we see a street with buildings and recognize it as a street with buildings. So how and why are we able to recognize these visual stimuli so quickly, and what is this recognition based on? Recognition of the gist of a scene seems to be related to prior knowledge associated with category of the scene and what it contains – street, buildings, cars, curbs, etc. What we know has a bearing on what we pay attention to and recognize in the scene, and what we remember about the scene (Loschky, 2016). So, what we see is based on what know from previous information, combined with recognition of parts of the scene to create an understanding of the entire scene. One thing that enables individuals to interpret the gist of a scene rapidly is called global image features , which are specific types of scenes such as natural scenes and open scenes that allow us to perceive scenes quickly. One global feature is the degree of naturalness , which is based on the features of the environment, such as the soft contours of natural scenes, and the hard, straight lines of man-made scenes (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). Studies have indicated that that natural versus man-made classification processing seems to occur before a recognition of a farm versus a city street (Loschky, 2016). The degree of openness is the degree of visible space or open area in a scene. The degree of roughness looks at the surface features of the scene, such as a sky with few smaller elements, or a city with a lot of smaller elements and different surfaces. The degree of expansion is the degree of convergence of elements in a scene, such as the sides of a road converging in the distance. Finally, the degree of color looks at the colors characteristic to some scenes, such as green fields and blue sky (Goldstein & Brockmole, 2017). Conclusion Gestalt principles help to describe how we perceive and organize the stimuli we encounter. While we do not always follow these principles, they do show us how we tend to follow this information. This does not explain why we organize visual information the way we do, or interpret it, but it does show us how we might group the information. Think about how much organization goes into a simple walk down the street as we take in visual information. Based on Gestalt principles, we tend to take in the information in certain ways that help us process and understand the information as a whole. Sources Bradley, S. (2014, March 29). Design principles: Visual perception and the principles of Gestalt. Retrieved from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/03/design-principles-visual- perception-and-the-principles-of-gestalt/ Cherry, K. (2017, November 5). Gestalt laws of perceptual organization. Retrieved from https://www.verywell.com/gestalt-laws-of-perceptual-organization-2795835

Goldstein, E. B. & Brockmole, J. R. (2017). Sensation and perception (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage. Griggs, R. A. (2016). Psychology: A concise introduction (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. King, L. A. (2012). The science of psychology modules (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Loschky, L. (2016). Recognizing the gist of a scene. Retrieved from: https://www.k- state.edu/psych/vcl/basic-research/scene-gist.html Image Citations "On the right is a smiley face drawing. On the left the components are scattered randomly." by Custom image. "An x formed by dots, with one side of the x red dots and the other black dots" by APUS. "Five overlapping circles" by https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Five_rings.png. "A star with some of the edges missing." by https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Gestalt#/media/File:Illusory_star.svg . "A set of six characters, two square brackets, two curly brackets, and two square brackets" by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology#/media/File:Law_of_Symmetry.jpg. "Six rows of black circles lined up with the exception that in the place of one of the circles you see a red heart." by Custom image. "Alternating rows of white and black dots" by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology#/media/File:Gestalt_similarity.svg. "On the left half is six by six grid of circles. On the right half is the same pattern but with spaces between the 2nd and 3rd column of circles and between the 4th and 5th column of circles." by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology#/media/File:Gestalt_proximity.svg . "People on a sidewalk walking in the same direction" by https://pixabay.com/en/pedestrians- crossing-road-street-918471/. "The left half of the image is two circles and two squares. On the right side are the same shapes but with a line connecting one circle to one square and another line connecting the other circle to the other square" by https://www.grayboxpdx.com/assets/images/file_uploads/887/09_uniform_connectedness.jpg.

"A group of people sitting on a circular seating and holding hands " by 41756006_ML. "Six knees touching in sort of a circle, where the bare floor inside the circle looks like a star" by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure%E2%80%93ground_(perception)#/media/File:Star- jeans.jpg. "On the left it looks like a man with a long moustache. On the right it looks like a donkey " by By Paul K - Flickr: Badinguet Allant a la Guerre - Badinguet Revenant de la Guerre, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32739455. "A stoplight laying on its side" by https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emojione_1F6A6.svg.

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