1. R. C. James Photograph

3. Necker Cube

4. Necker Cube

5. Necker Cube

6. Necker Cube

7. Movement Video

8. Visual Organization & Interpretation

11. Gestalt Means “form” or “whole.”
When given a cluster of sensations, our brain has a tendency to organize these pieces of information into wholes.
Our brain tries to make sense out of things, even when there is incomplete sensation.

13. What is the figure and what is the ground?
Figure-Ground
Organize visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (back-ground)
What is the figure and what is the ground?

14. Figure-Ground

15. Figure-Ground
Our minds organize figures into meaningful form by following rules for grouping the figures.
There are three basic gestalt rules for perceiving a whole, rather than parts:
Proximity: group nearby figures
Continuity: continuous patterns as one thing instead of several
Closure: your brain fills in “gaps” to complete a whole.

16. Grouping

17. Grouping

18. Grouping
Closure

19. Depth Perception
Allows us to see three dimensions even though images on retina are two dimensional
Allows us to judge distance
Visual cliff experiment
Depth perception is probably innate
Monocular cues
Binocular cues

20. Tennis ball experiment
Depth Perception
Tennis ball experiment

21. Monocular Cues Interposition or Overlap Light and Shadow
Linear Perspective
Aerial or Atmospheric perspective

22. Binocular Cues
Retinal Disparity: Your eyes are about 2-1/2 inches apart so your retinas receive different images. Your brain compares the images to judge how close something is.

23. Motion Perception
Your brain perceives shrinking objects as retreating, growing objects as converging.
Also perceives motion according to stroboscopic movement – like film animation.
Phi phenomenon – a succession of lights creates the impression of movement

24. Perceptual Consistency
We can recognize objects without being deceived by changes in the angle we are viewing from, distance, or illumination.
Color Consistency: perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object. In other words, color depends on its context.

25. Shape & Size Consistency
We perceive objects to have a constant size even if the image size on our retina changes.

26. Shape & Size Consistency
Moon illusion: There are depth cues on the horizon. As it rises, it will still be the same size, but perceived as smaller because there are no objects for comparison.

27. Color Consistency

28. Color Consistency

29. Squares A & B are identical in color
Relative Luminance
Squares A & B are identical in color

30. Squares A & B are identical in color
Relative Luminance
Squares A & B are identical in color