Question

3.	Briefly describe the perceptual principles that we tend to follow in grouping elements together to arrive at the perception of shapes, forms, and figures. Include a discussion of the figure-ground relationship in your answer.

Answer 1

3.

The perceptual principles that we tend to follow in grouping elements together to arrive at the perception of shapes, forms, and figures are the Gestalt principles of grouping; that are of four types: similarity, proximity, continuity, and closure.

Similarity refers to our tendency to group things together when we find them alike i.e. similar to each other.

The next is proximity based on which things are grouped together based on how close they are to each other or their proximity to one another.

Continuity; when things form some type of continuous pattern; we develop our tendency to see patterns and therefore perceive things as belonging together.

Finally, closure is the tendency of completing familiar objects that have gaps in them. Thus even at first glance, we can easily perceive a circle and a square.