By Zachary Briggs
As a business major at the college I am enrolled in, I initially anticipated my psychology course to not have any meaningful value to my life in the future. Do not… I repeat, do not approach this subject with that mindset. This semester I learned about many concepts within psychology that affect our lives daily such as sensory & short-term memory, long-term memory, attention, reasoning; the list can go on. One concept that was very intriguing to me and I would like to share my understanding and knowledge about is Perceptual Organization. Perceptual Organization is something we all use in our daily lives without even knowing as college students. We are using Perceptual Organization when studying for quizzes, finishing projects, taking tests, completing math problems, or even organizing our dorm rooms, we are constantly using Perceptual Organization.
First off, what is Perceptual Organization?
Perceptual Organization is the process that groups visual elements so that it is easier to determine the meaning of the visual as a whole. Every day we use various stimuli to keep stimulating the sense of organs to send signals to our brains to create sensations that help our interpretations for perceptual organization. One example of Perceptual Organization that is displayed in art is Pointillism. Pointillism is the practice in art of applying small strokes or dots of color to a surface so that from a far distance they blend.
Take this drawing of rapper Tyler the Creator for example, from a distance you’d think this is just a regular drawing. Once you zoom in you can see that the artist created this drawing by applying small dots that eventually blended into portrait of the infamous rapper. This drawing displays Perceptual Organization because people may not notice the tiny dots making the portrait unless they intentionally focus their attention on it.
With the Perceptual Organization theory according to Gestalt Psychologists, “… the human brain is capable of creating a conscious perceptual experience by observing the stimulus as a whole and not as the total of its parts.” The stimuli play the most important part into the Perceptual Organization because the activity that one person endures helps shape their visuals.
According to Gestalt Psychologists there are six basic principles for perceptual organization. The first principle is the Law of Closure, this law explains when we receive sensations that form an incomplete or unfinished visual images or sound, we look over the incompleteness and perceive the image or sound as a finished product. In the article, “Points of View: Gestalt Principles (Part 1)” they display a perfect example of the law of closure. In figure 1a of the article, it displayed a white triangle with no edges but with the use of the Law of Closure we can see the triangle as a whole because we know from our sensations what it really looks like. As students we use the law of closure in a way without knowing for example, during fill in the blank word problems. With fill in the blank questions on a test or quiz we can complete them by using our sensations we have retrieved from stimuli such as studying.
The second principle of perceptual organization is the Law of Similarity. The law of similarity is displayed in Perceptual Organization and is one of the broadest and most important. With the law of similarity is elements that are like each other are often grouped. In the article, “A Century of Gestalt Psychology in Visual Perception: I. Perceptual Grouping and figure-ground organization” scientists tried attempted to quantify dot lattices by grouping them by proximity by pitting it against similarity. By the end of the experiment scientists theory to quantify grouping by proximity without similarity was proved to be impossible because they manipulated the proximity by shifting left to right and forming to have the same shape and size.
The third principle of perceptual organization is the Law of Proximity. This law is displayed in perceptual organization by elements that are closed together will be perceived as a coherent group but are differentiated from the items that are far away from them. The photo below is an example of the Law of Proximity.
This image is an example of the law of proximity because although every shape in the image is the same, they are differentiated based on how they are grouped. The law of proximity can be shown in school work by a professor assigning group work for projects. Students are all apart of the same class but grouped differently based on the subject each group is assigned too.
The fourth principle of perceptual organization is the Law of Symmetry. This principle consists of two parts, the first part is that images that are perceived as symmetrical are experienced as belonging together. Secondly, people tend to find symmetry in a figure even if it is disorganized. In the photo below is an example of the law of symmetry.
This photo of my brother and I displays the law of symmetry in a multitude of ways. First with this being a collage making their a split line between the two separate photos. Secondly, in the first photo of the collage my brother and I, you can visualize how one can split the photo perfectly in half but when split apart see that they’re belonging together.
The fifth principle of perceptual organization is the Law of Good Continuation. With this principle our eyes intend to follow through objects even if paths are broken.
Lastly, the sixth and final principle of perceptual organization is the Law of Common Fate. The law of common fate also known as synchrony are elements that move in the same direction at the same pace despite having difference in color, shape, size etc.… will be perceived as related or in the same group. In the photo below is real life example of common fate.
The photo above is an example of the last principle of perceptual organization. On jersey day at practice we displayed the meaning of common fate. We did this by moving at the same pace and being in the same area as well as having the common interest in basketball having despite our differences in size, shape, color of jerseys. None of the differences took away from us being grouped together.
In all, understanding perceptual organization will take you a long way when it comes to schoolwork in college. It’ll teach how everything is taught and learned based on perception. For an incoming or first year college student once you realize how each principle of Perceptual Organization is instilled into your life and how you can use it in your academics. There will be nothing that can hold you back from being the best student you can be.
References:
WAGEMANS, KUBOVY, M., PETERSON, M. A., ELDER, J. H., PALMER, S. E., SINGH, M., & DER HEYDT, R. V. (2012). A Century of Gestalt Psychology in Visual Perception: I. Perceptual Grouping and Figure―Ground Organization. Psychological Bulletin, 138(6), 1172–1217. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029333
Wong. (2010). Gestalt principles (Part 2). Nature Methods, 7(12), 941–941. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth1210-941
Wong. (2010). Gestalt principles (Part 1). Nature Methods, 7(11), 863–863. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth1110-863
Herzog. (2018). Perceptual grouping. Current Biology, 28(12), R687–R688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.041