1. Before the Lecture: Load these webpages onto a browser.
Errol & Ricky:
Michael Bach re biological motion:
Dial-up type of biological motion
Psych 355,, Miyamoto, Spr '16

2. Perceptual Heuristics & Gestalt Principles of Perception
Psychology 355: Cognitive Psychology Instructor: John Miyamoto 04/05/2016: Lecture 02-2
Note: This Powerpoint presentation may contain macros that I wrote to help me create the slides. The macros aren’t needed to view the slides. You can disable or delete the macros without any change to the presentation.

3. Outline: The Cognitive Side of Perception
Unconscious inference is pervasive in perception
Bottom Up & Top Down Processing
Yesterday -----
Inverse Projection Problem
Perceptual heuristics
Gestalt Principles of Perception: Some examples
Preliminary topic to object perception
Examples of Bottom Up Processing
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

4. Examples of Bottom Up Processes
Elementary feature detection, e.g., edge detectors, bar detectors, motion detectors.
The following color perception is bottom up:

Your perception of the red squares is dictated by the stimulus; the perception is not influenced by prior expectations or beliefs.
Similarly, the perceived motion of the blue disk is bottom up. It is controlled by the stimulus, not by your beliefs or expectations.
Example of Top Down Processing
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

5. . LEFT SIDE saw Image 1a RIGHT SIDE saw Image 1b EVERYONE saw Image 2
The Inverse Projection Problem
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

6. Inverse Projection Problem
Object could be created by the larger more distant rectangle or the tilted trapezoid.
Inverse Project Problem: For any 2-dimensional image that is projected onto the retina, there are infinitely many different 3-dimensional shapes that could have produced that image.
How does the mind decide which real-world shape actually produced the 2-dimensional projected image?
Ambiguous Figures: The Ambiguous Box 6
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

7. Example: Ambiguous Image (Necker Cube)
Do you experience competing interpretations of the image? (I.e., do you experience "Gestalt shifts in perception")
Box viewed from above,
versus
Box viewed from below
Same Image But With Circles that Indicate Change in Interpretation 7
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

8. Example: Ambiguous Image (Necker Cube)
Do you experience competing interpretations of the image? (I.e., do you experience "Gestalt shifts in perception")
Box viewed from above,
versus
Box viewed from below
Ambiguous Figure: Young/Old Woman 8
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

9. Example: Ambiguous Images
Do you experience competing interpretations of the image? (a.k.a. "Gestalt shifts in perception")
Young woman
versus
Old woman
mouth
* Old woman/young woman image was published in 1915 by the cartoonist, W. E. Hill.
mouth
Original Cartoon from which this Figure was Derived 9
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

10. "My Wife and My Mother-in-Law"
According to Wikipedia (
British cartoonist William Ely Hill (1887–1962) published
"My Wife and My Mother-in-Law"
in Puck, an American humour magazine, on 6 November 1915, with the caption
"They are both in this picture — Find them".
Psych 355,, Miyamoto, Spr '16
Inverse Problem – How Does the Visual System Decide What is 3-D Object?

11. How Does the Visual System Answer the Question: What Is the Real Object That Produces the Stimulation at the Retina?
Basic answers:
The visual system makes a variety of unconscious inferences (Helmoltz's idea).
The visual system uses cues for object relations that usually work (but the system can be fooled by a clever stimulus).
What Is a Heuristic?
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

12. What is a Heuristic?
A heuristic is a simple reasoning strategy that is used to solve a problem, make a decision or form a judgment about something.
Perceptual heuristic: A strategy in perceptual information processing that (typically) helps to determine the objective situation that produced the immediate sensations.
Heuristics are shortcuts that are typically useful, even though they are occasionally misleading.
Heuristics are often adaptive, but they can lead to systematic errors.
Craters versus Mounds
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

13. Example: Craters or Mounds?
Typically Craters Typically Mounds
“Light comes from above” assumption guides perception.
Repeat this Slide with Ellipses that Pick Out Corresponding Craters and Bumps
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

14. Example: Craters or Mounds?
Typically Craters Typically Mounds
“Light comes from above” is a perceptual heuristic.
Why Idea of Unconscious Inference Is Important for Cog Psych
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

15. 2-D Artwork That Looks Like 3-D (Sketch)
Downloaded from: Work is attributed to:
* See ‘E:\p355\IMAGES\2d.like.3d.ini.planetstreetpainting.jpg’ for the image.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

16. 2-D Artwork That Looks Like 3-D (Finished Product)
Downloaded from:
* See ‘E:\p355\IMAGES\2d.like.3d.planetstreetpainting-4.jpg’ for the image.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

17. The Ames Room
According to Wikipedia ( The Ames Room was invented by an American ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames, Jr. in 1934.
Static example of an Ames Room:
Video of the Ames Room
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

18. A Video Example of the Ames Room
Errol & Ricky:
Where We Are Headed in the Perception Topic
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

19. Where We Are Headed in the Perception Topic
The point made by the previous slides: Our perceptual system solves the inverse projection problem by applying various perceptual heuristics.
Perceptual heuristics are strategies that provide “best guesses” about the stimulus object.
Next: Gestalt Principles of Perception
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

20. Inverse Projection Problem
Object could be created by the larger more distant rectangle or the tilted trapezoid.
Inverse Project Problem: For any 2-dimensional image that is projected onto the retina, there are infinitely many different 3-dimensional shapes that could have produced that image.
How does the mind decide which shape actually produced the 2-dimensional projected image?
Ambiguous Figures: The Ambiguous Box 20
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

21. The Gestalt Approach
Emerged in early 20th century in response to structuralism. (Structuralism claimed that perception was bottom up – it was built up from simple, atomistic sensations.)
Basic question of the Gestalt approach to perception: What principles govern the grouping of the components of a perceptual stimulus into an object or organized group of objects?
Gestalt principles are sometimes called heuristics— these principles produce “best guesses” about the stimulus object.
A heuristic is a “rule of thumb” that provides a best-guess solution to a problem. Gestalt laws do not always result in accurate perceptions of the environment. Contrast with algorithm, which is a procedure that is guaranteed to solve a problem.
Principle of Similarity 21
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

22. Gestalt Principle of Similarity
Similar things are grouped together.
Similarity in lightness, shape, color, size, and orientation cause grouping.
a a a a a a a a b c d e f g b b b b b b b a b c d e f g c c c c c c c a b c d e f g d d d d d d d a b c d e f g e e e e e e e a b c d e f g f f f f f f f a b c d e f g g g g g g g g a b c d e f g
(looks like rows) (looks like columns)
Principle of Good Continuation
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

23. Gestalt Principle of Good Continuation
Connected points result in smoothly curving lines.
Points are seen as they belong together.
Lines follows smooth path.
Figure-Ground Principle
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

24. Figure-Ground Principle and the Principle of Smallness
Face is Face is background foreground
Figure/ground Principle – ambiguous figure The famous faces/vase figure.
Principle of Smallness implies that we should see vases on the left and faces on the right
Escher Print #1
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

25. Figure-Ground Example
Downloaded from allery/A41L.html
Maurits Cornelis Escher Dutch graphics artist
Figure-ground problem: Separation of object from background
Escher Print #2
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

26. Another Figure-Ground Example
Downloaded from
Principle of Common Fate
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

27. Gestalt Principle: Common Fate
Principle of common fate: Things that are moving in the same direction at a similar speed appear to be grouped together.
Go to website:
The common fate principle can be seen in the perception of biological motion. The groups of lines or shapes are only visible as a group when they are moving together.
This website tries to identify different aspects of biological motion that serve as cues for male versus female; heavy versus light; nervous versus relaxed.
P 355, Miyamoto, Winter '09 27
Examples of Gestalt Principle in Visual Design 27
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

28. Examples of Gestalt Principles in the World of Visual Design
Principle of similarity implies that we see the three left figures as a group. Thus the right figure is an exception (anomaly) so it stands out.
Principle of continuation: We "see" the motion of the leaf.
Principle of Figure/Ground
Principle of Simplicity
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16
What Gestalt Principles are Present in Image of Woman at Beach?

29. Goldstein Figure 3.21
What Gestalt principles are used here to create the illusion of a semi- transparent woman?
Principle of Good Continuation
Principle of Similarity
Figure Waves by Wilma Hurskainen
Same Slide without the Red Arrows
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

30. Goldstein Figure 3.21
What Gestalt principles are used here to create the illusion of a semi- transparent woman?
Principle of Good Continuation
Principle of Similarity
Figure Waves by Wilma Hurskainen
Summary: Gestalt Principles of Perception - END
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16

31. Summary – Gestalt Principles of Perception
Phenomenological support
Experimental evidence – image segmentation (Not discussed in this lecture)
Gestalt laws are perceptual heuristics
Gestalt laws help to explain how the visual system solves the inverse projection problem (infer a specific reality from ambiguous inputs).
Important in the theory of object perception
END
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '16