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Gestalt Principles

  • Human visual system is optimized to see structure and relationships

  1. Common fate

  2. Figure / Ground

  3. Similarity

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  1. Pragnanz

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  1. Proximity

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  1. Continuity

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  1. Closure

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https://www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/nervous-system-and-sensory-infor/sensory-perception-topic/v/gestalt-principles

Stages of human visual processing​

  • Stage one: processing inside the retina
    • High resolution and intense color in the fovea
    • Lower resolution and less intense color elsewhere
    • Tuning to detect edges
  • Stage two: "preattentive" processing
    • Less than 1/4 second
    • Unconscious
    • Information from retina assembled into shapes and groups
  • Stage three: "Attentive" processing
    • Stores of experience used to interpret the output of state two

Gestalt principles come from stage two​

  • The visual system is predisposed to interpret edges, shapes, and groups in certain ways
  • Again, this is unconscious, and takes place before conscious interpretation
    • Conscious interpretation can override the perceptions from stage two, but it takes cognitive work

Design principle: Gestalt proximity​

  • The visual system assumes that things grouped together are related
  • The initial grouping is automatic and unconscious
    • Happens in less than 1/4 second