laws of perception

8/3/2019 Laws of Perception

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Laws of Perception

Ms Rubab AfzalLecturer, Psychology Department

Preston University, Islamabad


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Perception

y

Process by which organisms interpret and organizesensation to produce a meaningful experience of theworld.


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Sensation

y Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relativelyunprocessed result of stimulation of sensory receptorsin the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or skin.


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y In practice, sensation and perception are virtually

impossible to separate, because they are part of onecontinuous process.


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Figure Ground Perception

y The ability to differentiate visually between an objectand its background.


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Perception of figure against a background

y The famous opticalillusion imagedepicting both a vase

and two profiles of ahuman face (the Rubinvase) is often used toillustrate the concept

of figure ground.


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1. Law ofSimilarity

y The principle of similarity states that things whichshare visual characteristics such as shape, size, color,texture, value or orientation will be seen as belongingtogether.


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Example

y In the example to theright, the two filled

lines gives our eyes theimpression of twohorizontal lines, eventhough all the circlesare equidistant fromeach other.


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Example

y In the example to theleft, the larger circlesappear to belongtogether because of the

similarity in size.


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2. Law of Proximity

y The principle of proximity or contiguity states thatthings which are closer together will be seen asbelonging together.


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Exampley The horizontal rows of

circles are closer togetherthan the vertical columns,we perceive two verticallines. The first twocolumns and the last twocolumns have less spacebetween them than the

center two columns, weperceive two groups of twocolumns.


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3. Law of Closure

y The principle of closure applies when we tend to seecomplete figures even when part of the information ismissing.


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Example

y Three black circles coveredby a white triangle, even

through it could just aseasily be three incompletecircles joined together. Ourminds react to patternsthat are familiar, even

though we often receiveincomplete information.


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Example

y Even though the circleto the left is not joinedtogether,we still perceive a circledue to the principle ofclosure.


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4. Law of Area

y The principle of area states that the smaller of twooverlapping figures is perceived as figure while thelarger is regarded as ground.


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Example

yWe perceive thesmaller square to be ashape on top of theother figure, asopposed to a hole inthe larger shape.


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Example

yWe can reverse thisperception by using

shading to get ourmessage across

y On a white

background, this lookslike a box with a hole init.


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5. Law ofSymmetry

y The principle of symmetry describes the instancewhere the whole of a figure is perceived rather than theindividual parts which make up the figure.


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Example

y Two overlappingdiamonds,

y or three objects,

y a small diamond and

two irregular objectsabove and below it


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Result

y According to the principle of symmetry, you willprobably see two diamonds overlapping.


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6. Law of Continuity

y The principle of continuity predicts the preference forcontinuous figures.


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Example

yWe perceive the figureas two crossed linesinstead of 4 linesmeeting at the center.


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7. Law of Common Fate

y The law of common fate leads us to group togetherobjects that move in the same direction.


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Example

y Because of this principle, we often see flocks of birdsor schools of fish as one unit.


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8. Law ofSimplicity

y This general notion, which encompasses all otherGestalt laws, states that people intuitively prefer thesimplest, most stable of possible organizations.


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Example

y three overlappingdisks;

y as one whole disk andtwo partial disks withslices cut out of theirright sides;

y three-dimensional,cylindrical objects.


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Result

yThe law of simplicity states that you will see theillustration as three overlapping disks, because that isthe simplest interpretation.


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9. Law of Camouflage

y Camouflage is the art of disguising yourself to blend in

with your surroundings. Many animals have evolved toconceal themselves in their natural environments. Thecolor and pattern of some animals' markings helpthem camouflage themselves naturally.

laws of perception

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