Unit 4 - Perceptual Organization

Gestalt Psychology

explains how our brains unconsciously organize sensory information

2 Types of Form Perception

  1. Figure and Ground

    1. the ability to distinguish between the figure as the foreground and the ground as the background

  2. Grouping

    1. Proximity

      1. seeing objects close together as belonging together

    2. Similarity

      1. grouping similar objects together to make one whole

    3. Continuity

      1. seeing an object continuing despite an obvious break

    4. Connectedness

      1. perceiving spots, lines, or areas as a sing unit when uniform and linked

    5. Closure

      1. filling in missing spaces to complete an object and see it as a whole

2 Types of Depth Perception

the ability to see objects in 3D even they may not appear so

  • ]]Binocular Cues - depth cues that need two eyes]]
    • retinal disparity - the brain computes distance by comparing the images from both retinas (greater the difference = closer the object)
  • {{Monocular Cues - depth cues that need only one eye{{
    • relative height - higher the object = farther away
    • relative size - smaller the size = farther away
    • interposition - nearby objects partially obstruct the view of more distant objects
    • linear perspective - parallel lines appear to converge at some point in the distance
    • relative motion - as we move, objects that are stationary appear to move; closer the object = faster it moves
    • light and shadow - given two identical objects, the dimmer one appears to be farther away