Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization

Have you ever noticed how a series of flashing lights often appears to be moving, such as neon signs or strands of Christmas lights? According to Gestalt psychology, this apparent movement happens because our minds fill in missing information. This belief that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts led to the discovery of several different phenomena that occur during perception.

The image on the left illustrates the law of closure, which states that objects tend to be seen as part of a whole. There are no circles or triangles in this image, but our minds fill in the missing information to create these shapes.

Learn more about some of the Gestalt laws of perceptual organization.