Gestalt Learning Theory Overview: relation with human mind structure

Prof. Shivaji Bandopadhyaya, Faculty Member, Dept. Of Eng, NMSU

& Prof. Rahul Bandopadhyaya, Faculty Member, Dept of Eng, NMSU

& Prof. Debashri Banerjee, Assistant Professor in Philosophy & Psychology, CRPM Gestalt Learning Theory

Gestalt became one of the main theories of learning. The three main Gestalt theorists (Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka) were all Germans, and received their training and did their early work in Germany, but all three ended their careers in the US. The term "Gestalt" was coined by Graf Christian von Ehrenfels. His ideas influenced the trio of theorists.

Gestalt was a holistic approach and rejected the mechanistic perspectives of the stimulus - response models. Numerous new concepts and approaches emerged from this different philosophical perspective. The Gestalt theory proposes that learning consists of the grasping of a structural whole and not just a mechanistic response to a stimulus.

A "Gestalt" is an integrated whole system with it's parts enmeshed. The whole is greater than just the sum of the parts.

The "PHI" phenomenon described a characteristic of things wherein they have a recognizability inherent in their nature. Examples include the recognizability of a melody, no matter how it is arranged or what instrument plays it, or the recognizability of a letter rendered in a wide variety of different fonts or type styles. Other examples include the apparent motion created by a rapid sequence of stills in motion pictures, and the sequences of illminating elements in neon signs which give the illusion of movement. Visual and auditory examples are numerous. This phenomenon leads to the conclusion that elements sensed are not the only reality.

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"Phenomenology" is the acceptance of first hand experience as it is found in human consciousness.

Gestalt Learning Theory proposed several laws of organization, which are innate ways that human beings organized perceptions. A gestalt factor is a condition that aids in perceiving situations as a whole or totality. Isomorphism refers to the Doctrine of Psychophysical parallelism and depicts the cerebral cortex as "mapping these gestalt fields of stimuli.

The Factor of Closure suggests that perception tends to complete incomplete objects. When only part of an image, sound, thought or feeling is presented as a stimulus, the brain attempts to complete it to generate the whole.

The Factor of Proximity suggests that when elements are grouped closely together, they are percieved as wholes. This has relevance in reading, visual arts, and music.

The Factor of Similarity proposes that like parts tend to be grouped together in cognition. This has implications for instruction, suggesting that learning is facilitated if similar ideas are treated and linked together and then contrasted with opposing or complementary sets of ideas.

The Figure-Ground Effect suggests that the eye tends to see the objects, rather than the spaces or holes between them.

Trace Theory - This proposes a mechanism for learning in which neruological changes occur as connections are made in the brain. These changes, called traces, represent links between thoughts, ideas, concepts, images, etc. REpetition and uniqueness reinforce a trace. Thus, learning is the creation of traces. Traces group together to form maps. Instructional methods relating to repetition and to making items to be learned somehow distinctive to make learning (trace formation) quicker and more lasting. From the early theorys of Gestalt, there also emerged a branch of therapeutic interventions, called Gestalt Therapy. Fritz Perls went through psychoanalytic training with Karen Horney and then with Wilhelm Reich. He also adapted existentialist philosophy along with Zen and Taoist views to therapeutic work, and was strongly influenced by Freud.

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Gestalt Theory of Visual Perception

The Gestalt theorists were the first group of psychologists to systematcially study perceptual organisation around the 1920’s, in Germany. They were Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ernst Mach, and particularly of Christian von Ehrenfels and the research work of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, Kurt Koffka, and Kurt Lewin.The coming to power of national socialism substantially interrupted the fruitful scientific development of Gestalt theory in the German-speaking world; Koffka, Wertheimer, Köhler and Lewin emigrated, or were forced to flee, to the United

 

Gestalt means when parts identified individually have different characteristics to the whole (Gestalt means "organised whole")e.g. describing a tree - it's parts are trunk, branches, leaves, perhaps blossoms or fruitBut when you look at an entire tree, you are not conscious of the parts, you are aware of the overall object - the tree.Parts are of secondary importance even though they can be clearly seen.

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States where they continued to work, in spite of the dominant theoretical field for that time, of behaviourism.

The Gestalt of Figure/Ground Relationships

Perhaps the best known example of a gestalt is the vase/face profile which is fully explained in the six Gestalt Principles detailed below.

Configuration with Emergent Features

12/9/2022

Which of these two pictures is easier to remember?

the one on the left is seen as a whole room the one on the right is split into its part

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Six Principles of Gestalt Perception

Principle 1 - Proximity

 

The groups we see are

1 + 2 = as one group3 + 4 = as another group

Similarly, on the left, three groups of dots in three lines. What happens with the evenly spaced dots?

The principle of proximity or contiguity states that things which are closer together will be seen as belonging together.

Principle 2 - Similarity

Similarity means there is a tendency to see groups which have the same characteristics so in this example, there are three groups of black squares and three groups of white squares arranged in lines.

The principle of similarity states that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, value or orientation will be seen as belonging together.

Principle 3 - Common Fate

 

Suppose both principles of proximity and similarity are in place - then a movement takes place - the dots begin to move down the page.

They appear to change grouping.

Principle 4 - Good ContinuationSeeing things as whole lines (sequential) is clearly important. But 'being in wholes means' that few interruptions change the reading of the wholelines.

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A to O and Oto D are two lines. Similarly,C to O and O to B are two lines.

The principle of continuity predicts the preference for continuous figures. We perceive the figure as two crossed lines instead of 4 lines meeting at the center.

 

Principle 5 - Closure

Related to principle of good continuation, there is a tendency to close simple figures, independent of continuity or similarity. This results in a effect of filling in missing information or organising information which is present to make a whole

In the circle at the top its seen easily. In the other to figures it's a little more complex. The second figure can be read as two overlapping rectangles (the gestalt) whereas it can also be seen as three shapes touching; a square and two other irregular shapes.

The final shape can be seen as a curve joining three squares or as three uneven shapes touching.

Principle 6 - Area and Symmetry  

The principle of area states that the smaller of two overlapping figures is perceived as figure while the larger is regarded as ground.

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The principle of symmetry describes the instance where the whole of a figure is perceived rather than the individual parts which make up the figure.

See also Rudolf Arnheim, a Berlin gestaltist who emigrated to the United States, became professor of the Psychology of Art at Harvard University and published 13 books on gestalt theory and art.

Go to Gregory's Theory - Gibson's Theory

The principle of the symmetrical figure is that it is seen as a closed figure. Symmetrical contours thus define a figure and isolate it from its ground.

Gestalt psychologyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German: Gestalt [ɡəˈʃtalt] "shape, form") is a theory of mind of the Berlin School. Gestalt psychology tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. The central principle of gestalt psychology is that the mind forms a global whole with self-organizing tendencies. This principle maintains that when the human mind (perceptual system) forms a percept or gestalt, the whole has a reality of its own, independent of the parts. The original famous phrase of Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka, "The whole is other than the sum of the parts" is often incorrectly translated [1] as "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" and thus used when explaining gestalt theory, and further incorrectly applied to systems theory.[2] Koffka did not like the translation. He firmly corrected students who replaced "other" by "greater". "This is not a principle of addition" he said.[3] The whole has an independent existence.

In the domain of perception, Gestalt psychologists stipulate that perceptions are the products of complex interactions among various stimuli. Contrary to the behaviorist approach to understanding the elements of cognitive processes, gestalt psychologists sought to understand their organization (Carlson and Heth, 2010). The gestalt effect is the capability of our brain to generate whole forms, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of global figures instead of just collections of simpler and unrelated elements (points, lines, curves...).

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In psychology, gestaltism is often opposed to structuralism. Gestalt theory allows for the breakup of elements from the whole situation into what it really is.[4]

Contents

1 Origins o 1.1 Gestalt therapy

2 Theoretical framework and methodology 3 Support from cybernetics and neurology 4 Properties

o 4.1 Emergence o 4.2 Reification o 4.3 Multistability o 4.4 Invariance

5 Prägnanz o 5.1 Gestalt laws of grouping

6 Gestalt views in psychology o 6.1 Fuzzy-trace theory

7 Gestalt and Design 8 Uses in human–computer interaction 9 Quantum cognition modeling 10 Criticism 11 See also 12 References 13 External links

Origins:

The concept of gestalt was first introduced in philosophy and psychology in 1890 by Christian von Ehrenfels (a member of the School of Brentano). The idea of gestalt has its roots in theories by David Hume, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Immanuel Kant, David Hartley, and Ernst Mach. Max Wertheimer's unique contribution was to insist that the "gestalt" is perceptually primary, defining the parts it was composed from, rather than being a secondary quality that emerges from those parts, as von Ehrenfels's earlier Gestalt-Qualität had been.

Both von Ehrenfels and Edmund Husserl seem to have been inspired by Mach's work Beiträge zur Analyse der Empfindungen (Contributions to the Analysis of Sensations, 1886), in formulating their very similar concepts of gestalt and figural moment, respectively. On the philosophical foundations of these ideas see Foundations of Gestalt Theory (Smith, ed., 1988).

Early 20th century theorists, such as Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer, and Wolfgang Köhler (students of Carl Stumpf) saw objects as perceived within an environment according to all of their elements taken together as a global construct. This 'gestalt' or 'whole form' approach sought to define principles of perception—seemingly innate mental laws that determined the way objects were perceived. It is based on the here and now, and in the way things are seen. Images

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can be divided into figure or ground. The question is what is perceived at first glance: the figure in front, or the background.

These laws took several forms, such as the grouping of similar, or proximate, objects together, within this global process. Although gestalt has been criticized for being merely descriptive, it has formed the basis of much further research into the perception of patterns and objects (Carlson et al. 2000), and of research into behavior, thinking, problem solving and psychopathology.

Gestalt therapy[edit]

The founders of Gestalt therapy, Fritz and Laura Perls, had worked with Kurt Goldstein, a neurologist who had applied principles of Gestalt psychology to the functioning of the organism. Laura Perls had been a Gestalt psychologist before she became a psychoanalyst and before she began developing Gestalt therapy together with Fritz Perls.[5] The extent to which Gestalt psychology influenced Gestalt therapy is disputed, however. In any case it is not identical with Gestalt psychology. On the one hand, Laura Perls preferred not to use the term "Gestalt" to name the emerging new therapy, because she thought that the gestalt psychologists would object to it;[6]

on the other hand Fritz and Laura Perls clearly adopted some of Goldstein's work.[7] Thus, though recognizing the historical connection and the influence, most gestalt psychologists emphasize that gestalt therapy is not a form of gestalt psychology.[8]

Theoretical framework and methodology:

The school of gestalt practiced a series of theoretical and methodological principles that attempted to redefine the approach to psychological research. This is in contrast to investigations developed at the beginning of the 20th century, based on traditional scientific methodology, which divided the object of study into a set of elements that could be analyzed separately with the objective of reducing the complexity of this object.

The theoretical principles are the following:

Principle of Totality—The conscious experience must be considered globally (by taking into account all the physical and mental aspects of the individual simultaneously) because the nature of the mind demands that each component be considered as part of a system of dynamic relationships.

Principle of psychophysical isomorphism – A correlation exists between conscious experience and cerebral activity.

Based on the principles above the following methodological principles are defined:

Phenomenon experimental analysis—In relation to the Totality Principle any psychological research should take phenomena as a starting point and not be solely focused on sensory qualities.

Biotic experiment—The school of gestalt established a need to conduct real experiments that sharply contrasted with and opposed classic laboratory experiments. This signified

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experimenting in natural situations, developed in real conditions, in which it would be possible to reproduce, with higher fidelity, what would be habitual for a subject.[9]

Support from cybernetics and neurology:

In the 1940s and 1950s, laboratory research in neurology and what became known as cybernetics on the mechanism of frogs' eyes indicate that perception of 'gestalts' (in particular gestalts in motion) is perhaps more primitive and fundamental than 'seeing' as such:

A frog hunts on land by vision... He has no fovea, or region of greatest acuity in vision, upon which he must center a part of the image... The frog does not seem to see or, at any rate, is not concerned with the detail of stationary parts of the world around him. He will starve to death surrounded by food if it is not moving. His choice of food is determined only by size and movement. He will leap to capture any object the size of an insect or worm, providing it moves like one. He can be fooled easily not only by a piece of dangled meat but by any moving small object... He does remember a moving thing provided it stays within his field of vision and he is not distracted.[10]

Cyberneticist Valentin Turchin points out that the gestalts observed in what we usually imagine are 'still images' and are exactly the kind of 'moving objects' that make the frog's retina respond:

The lowest-level concepts related to visual perception for a human being probably differ little from the concepts of a frog. In any case, the structure of the retina in mammals and in human beings is the same as in amphibians. The phenomenon of distortion of perception of an image stabilized on the retina gives some idea of the concepts of the subsequent levels of the hierarchy. This is a very interesting phenomenon. When a person looks at an immobile object, "fixes" it with his eyes, the eyeballs do not remain absolutely immobile; they make small involuntary movements. As a result the image of the object on the retina is constantly in motion, slowly drifting and jumping back to the point of maximum sensitivity. The image "marks time" in the vicinity of this point.[11]

Properties:

The key principles of gestalt systems are emergence, reification, multistability and invariance.[12]

Emergence:

This is demonstrated by the dog picture, which depicts a Dalmatian dog sniffing the ground in the shade of overhanging trees. The dog is not recognized by first identifying its parts (feet, ears, nose, tail, etc.), and then inferring the dog from those component parts. Instead, the dog appears as a whole, all at once and gestalt theory does not have an explanation for how this percept of a dog appears.

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Reification:See also: Reification (fallacy)

Reification

Reification is the constructive or generative aspect of perception, by which the experienced percept contains more explicit spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.

For instance, a triangle is perceived in picture A, though no triangle is there. In pictures B and D the eye recognizes disparate shapes as "belonging" to a single shape, in C a complete three-dimensional shape is seen, where in actuality no such thing is drawn.

Reification can be explained by progress in the study of illusory contours, which are treated by the visual system as "real" contours.

Multistability:

the Necker cube and the Rubin vase, two examples of multistability

Multistability (or multistable perception) is the tendency of ambiguous perceptual experiences to pop back and forth unstably between two or more alternative interpretations. This is seen, for example, in the Necker cube and Rubin's Figure/Vase illusion shown here. Other examples include the three-legged blivet and artist M. C. Escher's artwork and the appearance of flashing marquee lights moving first one direction and then suddenly the other. Again, gestalt does not explain how images appear multistable, only that they do.

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Invariance:

Invariance

Invariance is the property of perception whereby simple geometrical objects are recognized independent of rotation, translation, and scale; as well as several other variations such as elastic deformations, different lighting, and different component features. For example, the objects in A in the figure are all immediately recognized as the same basic shape, which are immediately distinguishable from the forms in B. They are even recognized despite perspective and elastic deformations as in C, and when depicted using different graphic elements as in D. Computational theories of vision, such as those by David Marr, have had more success in explaining how objects are classified.

Emergence, reification, multistability, and invariance are not necessarily separable modules to model individually, but they could be different aspects of a single unified dynamic mechanism.[citation needed]

Prägnanz:Main article: Principles of grouping

The fundamental principle of gestalt perception is the law of prägnanz (in the German language, pithiness), which says that we tend to order our experience in a manner that is regular, orderly, symmetrical, and simple. Gestalt psychologists attempt to discover refinements of the law of prägnanz, and this involves writing down laws that, hypothetically, allow us to predict the interpretation of sensation, what are often called "gestalt laws".[13] These include:

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Gestalt laws of grouping[edit]

Law of proximity

Law of similarity

Law of closure

A major aspect of Gestalt psychology is that it implies that the mind understands external stimuli as whole rather than the sum of their parts. The wholes are structured and organized using grouping laws. The various laws are called laws or principles, depending on the paper where they appear—but for simplicity's sake, this article uses the term laws. These laws deal with the sensory modality vision. However, there are analogous laws for other sensory modalities including auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory (Bregman – GP). The visual Gestalt principles of grouping were introduced in Wertheimer (1923). Through the 1930s and '40s Wertheimer,

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Kohler and Koffka formulated many of the laws of grouping through the study of visual perception.[14]

Law of Proximity—The law of proximity states that when an individual perceives an assortment of objects they perceive objects that are close to each other as forming a group. For example, in the figure that illustrates the Law of proximity, there are 72 circles, but we perceive the collection of circles in groups. Specifically, we perceive there is a group of 36 circles on the left side of the image, and three groups of 12 circles on the right side of the image. This law is often used in advertising logos to emphasize which aspects of events are associated.[14][15]

Law of Similarity—The law of similarity states that elements within an assortment of objects are perceptually grouped together if they are similar to each other. This similarity can occur in the form of shape, colour, shading or other qualities. For example, the figure illustrating the law of similarity portrays 36 circles all equal distance apart from one another forming a square. In this depiction, 18 of the circles are shaded dark and 18 of the circles are shaded light. We perceive the dark circles as grouped together, and the light circles as grouped together forming six horizontal lines within the square of circles. This perception of lines is due to the law of similarity.[15]

Law of Closure—The law of closure states that individuals perceive objects such as shapes, letters, pictures, etc., as being whole when they are not complete. Specifically, when parts of a whole picture are missing, our perception fills in the visual gap. Research shows that the reason the mind completes a regular figure that is not perceived through sensation is to increase the regularity of surrounding stimuli. For example, the figure that depicts the law of closure portrays what we perceive as a circle on the left side of the image and a rectangle on the right side of the image. However, gaps are present in the shapes. If the law of closure did not exist, the image would depict an assortment of different lines with different lengths, rotations, and curvatures—but with the law of closure, we perceptually combine the lines into whole shapes.[14][15][16]

Law of Symmetry—The law of symmetry states that the mind perceives objects as being symmetrical and forming around a center point. It is perceptually pleasing to divide objects into an even number of symmetrical parts. Therefore, when two symmetrical elements are unconnected the mind perceptually connects them to form a coherent shape. Similarities between symmetrical objects increase the likelihood that objects are grouped to form a combined symmetrical object. For example, the figure depicting the law of symmetry shows a configuration of square and curled brackets. When the image is perceived, we tend to observe three pairs of symmetrical brackets rather than six individual brackets.[14][15]

Law of Common Fate—The law of common fate states that objects are perceived as lines that move along the smoothest path. Experiments using the visual sensory modality found that movement of elements of an object produce paths that individuals perceive that the objects are on. We perceive elements of objects to have trends of motion, which indicate the path that the object is on. The law of continuity implies the grouping together of objects that have the same trend of motion and are therefore on the same path. For example, if there are an array of dots and half the dots are moving upward while the other half are moving downward, we would perceive the upward moving dots and the downward moving dots as two distinct units.[17]

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Law of Continuity—The law of continuity states that elements of objects tend to be grouped together, and therefore integrated into perceptual wholes if they are aligned within an object. In cases where there is an intersection between objects, individuals tend to perceive the two objects as two single uninterrupted entities. Stimuli remain distinct even with overlap. We are less likely to group elements with sharp abrupt directional changes as being one object.[14]

Law of Good Gestalt—The law of good gestalt explains that elements of objects tend to be perceptually grouped together if they form a pattern that is regular, simple, and orderly. This law implies that as individuals perceive the world, they eliminate complexity and unfamiliarity so they can observe a reality in its most simplistic form. Eliminating extraneous stimuli helps the mind create meaning. This meaning created by perception implies a global regularity, which is often mentally prioritized over spatial relations. The law of good gestalt focuses on the idea of conciseness, which is what all of gestalt theory is based on. This law has also been called the law of Prägnanz.[14] Prägnanz is a German word that directly translates to mean "pithiness" and implies the ideas of salience, conciseness and orderliness.[17]

Law of Past Experience—The law of past experience implies that under some circumstances visual stimuli are categorized according to past experience. If two objects tend to be observed within close proximity, or small temporal intervals, the objects are more likely to be perceived together. For example, the English language contains 26 letters that are grouped to form words using a set of rules. If an individual reads an English word they have never seen, they use the law of past experience to interpret the letters "L" and "I" as two letters beside each other, rather than using the law of closure to combine the letters and interpret the object as an uppercase U.[17]

The gestalt laws of grouping have recently been subjected to modern methods of scientific evaluation by examining the visual cortex using cortical algorithms. Current Gestalt psychologists have described their findings, which showed correlations between physical visual representations of objects and self-report perception as the laws of seeing.[17]

Gestalt views in psychology:

Gestalt psychologists find it is important to think of problems as a whole. Max Wertheimer considered thinking to happen in two ways: productive and reproductive.[13]

Productive thinking is solving a problem with insight.

This is a quick insightful unplanned response to situations and environmental interaction.

Reproductive thinking is solving a problem with previous experiences and what is already known. (1945/1959).

This is a very common thinking. For example, when a person is given several segments of information, he/she deliberately examines the relationships among its parts, analyzes their purpose, concept, and totality, he/she reaches the "aha!" moment, using what is already known. Understanding in this case happens intentionally by reproductive thinking.

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Another gestalt psychologist, Perkins, believes insight deals with three processes:

1. Unconscious leap in thinking.[13]

2. The increased amount of speed in mental processing.3. The amount of short-circuiting that occurs in normal reasoning.[18]

Views going against the gestalt psychology are:

1. Nothing-special view 2. Neo-gestalt view3. The Three-Process View

Gestalt psychology should not be confused with the gestalt therapy of Fritz Perls, which is only peripherally linked to gestalt psychology. A strictly gestalt psychology-based therapeutic method is Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy, developed by the German gestalt psychologist and psychotherapist Hans-Jürgen Walter and his colleagues in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Other countries, especially Italy, have seen similar developments.

Fuzzy-trace theory:

Fuzzy-trace theory, a dual process model of memory and reasoning, was also derived from Gestalt Psychology. Fuzzy-trace theory posits that we encode information into two separate traces: verbatim and gist. Information stored in verbatim is exact memory for detail (the individual parts of a pattern, for example) while information stored in gist is semantic and conceptual (what we perceive the pattern to be). The effects seen in Gestalt psychology can be attributed to the way we encode information as gist.[19]

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Gestalt and Design:

Composition showing the Gestalt Principles, graphic design (Gestalt Educational Program, 2011).

Central motif from the Bauhaus logo, 1921–22

Gestalt in the Eye, digital montage, 2011

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Uses in human–computer interaction:

The gestalt laws are used in user interface design. The laws of similarity and proximity can, for example, be used as guides for placing radio buttons. They may also be used in designing computers and software for more intuitive human use. Examples include the design and layout of a desktop's shortcuts in rows and columns. Gestalt psychology also has applications in computer vision for trying to make computers "see" the same things as humans do.[20]

Quantum cognition modeling:Main article: Quantum cognition § Gestalt perception

Similarities between Gestalt phenomena and quantum mechanics have been pointed out by, among others, chemist Anton Amann, who commented that "similarities between Gestalt perception and quantum mechanics are on a level of a parable" yet may give useful insight nonetheless. Physicist Elio Conte and co-workers have proposed abstract, mathematical models to describe the time dynamics of cognitive associations with mathematical tools borrowed from quantum mechanics [21] [22] and has discussed psychology experiments in this context. A similar approach has been suggested by physicists David Bohm, Basil Hiley and philosopher Paavo Pylkkänen with the notion that mind and matter both emerge from an "implicate order".[23][24] The models involve non-commutative mathematics; such models account for situations in which the outcome of two measurements performed one after the other can depend on the order in which they are performed—a pertinent feature for psychological processes, as it is obvious that an experiment performed on a conscious person may influence the outcome of a subsequent experiment by changing the state of mind of that person.

Criticism:

In some scholarly communities, such as cognitive psychology and computational neuroscience, gestalt theories of perception are criticized for being descriptive rather than explanatory in nature. For this reason, they are viewed by some as redundant or uninformative. For example, Bruce, Green & Georgeson[25] conclude the following regarding gestalt theory's influence on the study of visual perception:

The physiological theory of the gestaltists has fallen by the wayside, leaving us with a set of descriptive principles, but without a model of perceptual processing. Indeed, some of their "laws" of perceptual organisation today sound vague and inadequate. What is meant by a "good" or "simple" shape, for example?

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Gestalt Principles: simple analysis with colored figures & pictures Gestalt is also known as the "Law of Simplicity" or the "Law of Pragnanz" (the entire figure or configuration), which states that every stimulus is perceived in its most simple form. Gestalt theorists followed the basic principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, the whole (a picture, a car) carried a different and altogether greater meaning than its individual components (paint, canvas, brush; or tire, paint, metal, respectively). In viewing the "whole," a cognitive process takes place – the mind makes a leap from comprehending the parts to realizing the whole, We visually and psychologically attempt to make order out of chaos, to create harmony or structure from seemingly disconnected bits of information. The prominent founders of Gestalt theory are Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka.

1. Figure/Ground  

This principle shows our perceptual tendency to separate whole figures from their backgrounds based on one or more of a number of possible variables, such as contrast, color, size, etc.

A simple composition may have only one figure. In a complex composition there will be several things to notice. As we look from one to another they each become

figure in turn.

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The focus at any moment is the figure.

M. C. Escher Sky and Water 1 1938

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Everything that is not figure is ground. As our attention shifts, the ground also shifts so that an object can go from figure to ground and then back. Ground is sometimes thought of as background or negative space. Figure-ground refers to the relationship between an object and its surround. Sometimes the relationship is stable, meaning that it is easy to pick out the figure from the ground. 

Henri Matisse

La Danse (I)1909 8'6 1/2" x 12'9 1/2" (259.7 x 390.1 cm),

La Musique 1910, Dance (II) 1910, 8'5 3/8" x 12'9 1/4" (260 x 389 cm)

Dance (II) 1910, 8' 5 5/8" x 12' 9 1/2" (260 x 391 cm)

Other times the relationship is unstable, meaning it is difficult to pick out the figure from the ground. Rarely, the relationship is ambiguous, meaning that the figure could be the ground or vice-versa.

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TipsClearly differentiate between figure and ground in order to focus attention and minimize perceptual confusion.

CamouflageCamouflage is the deliberate alteration of figure-ground so that the figure blends into the ground. During the Gulf War, all tanks had to be repainted from a woodland camouflage pattern to a desert camouflage pattern because camouflage is terrain specific. That specificity is also evident when one goes to purchase camouflage clothing; it comes in several patterns, each best suited to particular environments or seasons. Camouflage material may have a single color, or it may have several similarly colored patches mixed together. The reason for using this sort of pattern is that it is visually disruptive. The meandering lines of the mottled camouflage pattern help hide the contour -- the outline -- of the body. When you look at a piece of mottled camouflage in a matching environment, your brain naturally "connects" the lines of the colored blotches with the lines of the trees, ground, leaves and shadows. This affects the way you perceive and recognize the person or object wearing that camouflage.

   

Grant Wood helped develop the US military's camouflage during World War I.

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Dali, "L'image disparait," 1938.

 

The Camouflage House

Desiree Palmen

2.  Similarity Gestalt theory states that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, or value will be seen as belonging together in the viewer’s mind.

In the graphic below, the viewer is likely to discern a shape in the middle, though each individual object is the same color.

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• Repetition of forms or colors in a composition is pleasing in much the same way rhythm is pleasing in music the forms aren't necessarily identical - there may be tremendous variety within the repetition, yet the correspondence will still be discernable.

• Like static and dynamic tension a deliberate use of similarity in composition can impart meaning to the viewer that is independent of the subject matter of the image.

• Similarity or repetition in an image often has connotations of harmony and interrelatedness, or rhythm and movement.

Ilse Bing

• good composition: regardless of the subject matter, makes some use of similarity in arranging elements and space for aesthetic advantage.  

Répétition d'un Ballet. 1874   Carol Golemboski

In Edgar Degas' The Millinery Shop notice the repetition of the circle motif. Circles represent objects such as hats, flowers, bows, the woman's head, bosom, and skirt, etc. The painting is a whole design of circles broken by a few verticals (the hat stand, the ribbons, the back draperies) and a triangle or two (the table, the woman's vent arm, and the front hat's ribbons).

  Edgar Degas The Millinery Shop. 1879-1884

3.  Proximity The Gestalt law of proximity states that "objects or shapes that are close to one another appear to form groups". Even if the shapes, sizes, and objects are radically different, they will appear as a group if they are close together.

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• refers to the way smaller elements are "massed" in a composition.

Bill Brandt

• Also called "grouping," the principle concerns the effect generated when the collective presence of the set of elements becomes more meaningful than their presence as separate elements.

Arnold Newman

• Arranging words into sentences or titles is an obvious way to group unrelated elements to enhance their meaning (it also depends on a correct order for comprehension).

• Grouping the words also changes the visual and psychological meaning of the composition in non-verbal ways unrelated to their meaning.

• Elements which are grouped together create the illusion of shapes or planes in space, even if the elements are not touching.

• Grouping of this sort can be achieved with:

Tone / value Color Shape Size Or other physical attributes  

The painting by Thomas P. Anshutz of workers on their lunch break shows the idea in composition. The lighter elements of the workers' upper bodies contrast with the generally darker background. These light elements are not placed aimlessly around the composition but, by proximity, are arranged

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carefully to unite visually. Arms stretch and reach out to touch or overlap adjoining figures so the bodies form a large horizontal unit stretching across the painting.

Thomas P. Anshutz. The Ironworkers' Noontime

 

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam, c. 1510. Sistine Chapel, Rome.

Michelangelo's Creation of Adam demonstrates the expressive power of proximity.

 

4.  Closure The satisfaction of a pattern encoded, as it were, into the brain, thus triggering recognition of the stimulus. This can involve the brain's provision of missing details thought to be a part of a potential pattern, or, once closure is achieved, the elimination of details unnecessary to establish a pattern match.

 

Closure is the effect of suggesting a visual connection or continuity between sets of elements which do not actually touch each other in a composition.

The principle of closure applies when we tend to see complete figures even when part of the information is missing.

 Closure occurs when elements in a composition are aligned in such a way that the viewer perceives that "the information could be connected."

Kanizsa Illusion

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• Imaginary lines called vectors, or shapes called counter forms, are generated by these relationships, which the eye understands as part of the composition even though there is "nothing there.

• Vectors and counter forms exert forces and tensions that are as real in defining its underlying structure as the elements that are visible.

• Linear vectors direct the path of the eye through the composition and determine where the eye will go once it is attracted by the prominent features of the composition.

• A vector can be straight or curved, depending on the relationships that form it.

• Counter forms, (or negative spaces), determine to a great extent whether or not the composition will be perceived as a harmonious whole. Counter forms "echo" the positive visual elements with "similarity," or create powerful substructures that support and connect visible elements.

Katsushika Hokusai The Great Wave Off KanagawaFrom "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji"; 1823-29 

• Closure can be thought of as the tension or "glue" that holds a two-dimensional structure together.  

5.  Good Continuation (Continuity) This Gestalt law states that learners "tend to continue shapes beyond their ending points".

The edge of one shape will continue into the space and meet up with other shapes or the edge of the picture plane. The example below illustrates that learners are more apt to follow the direction of an established pattern rather than deviate from it.  We perceive the figure as two crossed lines instead of 4 lines meeting at the center.

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Continuity in the form of a line, an edge, or a direction from one form to another creates a fluid connection among compositional parts. In Degas' drawing the line of the round tub starts at the bather's hairline, meets her fingertips, and joins the vertical line of the shelf where the brush handle overlaps. The circular shape of the bather's hips is tangential to the same shelf edge. The objects on the shelf barely touch and carry the eye from one to another.

Edgar Degas, The Tub, 1886. Pastel 

 6.  Symmetry or OrderSymmetry states that the viewer should not be given the impression that something is out of balance, or missing, or wrong.  If an object is asymmetrical, the viewer will waste time trying to find the problem instead of concentrating on the instruction.

• Order has connotations of stability, consistency and structure.

• An orderly arrangement of elements has connotations that will be perceived either positively or negatively by a viewer depending on the purpose of the communication and the viewer's personality.

• Utilitarian information (instructional or technical design) will be more effective if the presentation is orderly, especially if it must be comprehended quickly.

traffic signs sets of instructions reference books

• Texts and illustrative material may also need to be orderly; especially if the organization sponsoring the communication wishes to be perceived as orderly and well run (annual reports are typically clean, orderly documents).

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• People are accustomed to receiving information in a systematic and organized manner and will be frustrated by material that requires too much work to comprehend.

• Some viewers associate order with institutional rigidity or social conservatism and will reject or be "bored" by communications that seem too highly structured.

• Developing judgment about audience preferences and tolerances with respect to order is central to the designer's task.

• The goal is to be structured and equally engaging.

 

 

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