Chapter 4. Principles of Perceptual Grouping

4.1 Title slide

Demonstration 4.2
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Principles of Perceptual Grouping

Interact with animated displays to see how factors such as proximity, similarity, symmetry, and common motion affect how you group visual objects.

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In this image, we combine each bunch of identical items on the shelves into a single group, rather than perceiving the individual items.
Photo: Kutay Tanir/E+/Getty Image.

What Are the Principles of Perceptual Grouping?

In the first half of the twentieth century, a group of German psychologists (known as the Gestalt psychologists) created demonstrations and conducted experiments aimed at clarifying the principles of perceptual grouping. Their strategy was to present arrays of very simple elements and to manipulate various relations among the elements in order to discover how those relations affect the perceived grouping of the elements. The relations that were investigated and the principles discovered included:

Proximity: Elements that are close together group more easily than elements that are far apart.

Similarity: Elements with similar features tend to group together. This principle refers to features such as color, size, shape, and orientation.

Common motion: Elements that move in unison tend to group together.

Symmetry and parallelism: Elements that are symmetrical or parallel tend to group together.

Good continuation: Two edges that would meet if extended tend to group together and are perceived as a single edge that has been partially occluded. For example, in the image below, the top and bottom edges of the two green shapes would meet if extended, as illustrated by the dashed lines in the image on the right, so we tend to group the two green shapes into a single shape partly hidden by the blue shape.



These principles are thought to guide perceptual grouping in complex real scenes as well as in simplified arrays like those used by the Gestalt psychologists.

4.2 Explain

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Grouping by Proximity or by Similarity of Shape, Size, Color, or Orientation

How is perceptual grouping influenced by similarity of visual features? How does common motion affect grouping?
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4.3 Explain

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Grouping by Symmetry or Parallelism

How is perceptual grouping influenced by symmetry or parallelism? How does common motion affect grouping?
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4.4 Explain

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Grouping by Good Continuation

Do you group this as a red bar lying on top of a blue bar? Click COMMON MOTION to see how motion affects grouping.

4.5 Explain

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What Are the Principles of Perceptual Grouping?

In the first half of the twentieth century, a group of German psychologists (known as the Gestalt psychologists) created demonstrations and conducted experiments aimed at clarifying the principles of perceptual grouping. Their strategy was to present arrays of very simple elements and to manipulate various relations among the elements in order to discover how those relations affect the perceived grouping of the elements. The relations that were investigated and the principles discovered included:

Proximity: Elements that are close together group more easily than elements that are far apart.

Similarity: Elements with similar features tend to group together. This principle refers to features such as color, size, shape, and orientation.

Common motion: Elements that move in unison tend to group together.

Symmetry and parallelism: Elements that are symmetrical or parallel tend to group together.

Good continuation: Two edges that would meet if extended tend to group together and are perceived as a single edge that has been partially occluded. For example, in the image on the right, the top and bottom edges of the two green shapes would meet if extended, as illustrated by the dashed lines in the image on the right, so we tend to group the two green shapes into a single shape partly hidden by the blue shape.

These principles are thought to guide perceptual grouping in complex real scenes as well as in simplified arrays like those used by the Gestalt psychologists.

4.6 Test - dnd

You must complete the question and then click SUBMIT before you can proceed to the next screen.
test_dnd

Question

NlRhfZGnsTX9oPnshrLdkcZJ+nRwOLQ0vRRzM2FB3UI=
Slide 6/Test Yourself 1 Matching Activity

Drag the labels into the blank boxes to match each principle of perceptual grouping with the row of shapes that illustrates it. Then click SUBMIT.

Proximity
Similarity of orientation
Similarity of size
Symmetry
Parallelism
Similarity of color
Similarity of shape
No grouping
Good continuation

4.7 Test - single choice

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test_single_choice

Select your answer to the question below. Then click SUBMIT.

Question

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
Correct! Click EXPLAIN if you want to review this topic.
Incorrect.
The correct answer is A.
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4.8 Test - single choice

You must complete the question and then click SUBMIT before you can proceed to the next screen.
test_single_choice

Select your answer to the question below. Then click SUBMIT.

Question

3fk0h0zcDU4SnmqN7IhahKjZlVDMMcaPnE+b/IOn9+3tflFjvqWiTmAXVRGkxN8f7BEqvz0M7nTUbxRpRKVPF7pwKBCWRTUwiDxcsAufk5rNm945yqStM44VJSR9ZUIgtNAeoYGaV7d2D7IiKJY+Ww9LiFyu0BUtMlSGlUuWYfKZd96YnyAJNaNIUbiFGJWK4NheYmrhVTznbq/9Epfc9Oi6hYCrO+M60WrrsMKTXaO8SrLBsCui8HDhk4vEjfViX44kgWlD9wISYoKN9SOpkvwJRB/CnnFuwr+3cr5umGhBu96IVYtI3Cn4UaCpVdjwdVnyZnnoXLIhrY+r7j65gDwdpE7vQzBJkNDu4+BtAmiUgiuBd+QFBRzTU2WWx1NRdb81EfSdCLQLl/R0HTxEiQfTZUXUIuP+i0tgKg==
Correct! Click EXPLAIN if you want to review this topic.
Incorrect.
The correct answer is D.
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4.9 Activity completed

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