Gestalt Principles and Perpetual Processing - Essay Example

Gestalt Principles and Perpetual Processing The principles of gestalt are similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, and figure and background. Similarity is what occurs when objects look similar to one another. Basically, people are deemed to perceive them as a pattern or a group. For example, when a shape is added to others but it has similar characteristics to the others, similarity occurs. Anomaly is when a dissimilar object is added to a group of similar objects. When the eye is compelled to move through one object to another, it is a gestalt principle called continuation.

Closure as a gestalt principle occurs when an incomplete object is perceived as a whole due to having enough of the object indicated. The mind fills into the spaces due to the familiarity it has to the indicated object. Proximity occurs whenever elements are placed close together. They form a definite shape even if their individual shapes do not have any relationship to the final object. Figure and background occur as follows; whenever the eye differentiates an object from its surrounding area, a shape naturally comes out and it is the figure.

The surrounding area is perceived as the background. Sensation is the process of interacting with the environment through taste, touch, sound, smell, and sight. Perception, on the other hand, is how these senses are interpreted and sense made out of them. The similarity between the two is that they are both ways of interpreting the environment.Worksheet1) Proximity- the shapes look like they can fit into one another and be close enough to form another shape.2) Continuation- the eye naturally follows the curve to the maple leaf.3) Similarity- the human figure is similar to the droplet shapes.4) Closure- one naturally completes the shape to a human face.5) Figure and background- the word ALCOA and the logo appear to be the objects with the rest of the area serving as the background.

ReferencesWillis D. E. and Kurt K. (1997). A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology. The Gestalt Journal Press.