Illusion - Is Seeing Really Believing?/Illusion - Is Seeing Really Believing (1998)(Marshall Media)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/illusion/rock_txt.cxt/00232_Text_re58t.txt

Text File | 1997-02-04 | 2KB | 52 lines

    This preferred outcome can
be explained on the basis of
"good continuation," a
principle of grouping Max
Wertheimer uncovered in 1923.
Good continuation refers to our
tendency to group together in a
single structure those parts or
units that appear to be aligned
with, or smooth directional
continuations of, one another,
other things being equal. As a
glance at the figure at left will
indicate, contours that
constitute abrupt
discontinuities of direction
tend not to be regarded as parts
of the same overall structure.
Because we tend to perceive in
accordance with this principle,
it seems plausible to conclude
that we generally recover in
our perceptions the same
structures and groupings that
exist in the world. That is
because such smooth
continuations ordinarily are
inherent in parts of the same
object. It would be coincidental
for these continuations to exist
within the retinal image when
they result from objects or parts
that have no connection with
one another. Of course, it is
entirely possible that two bent
sticks are partly hidden by a
tree, even though we favor the
perception of two crossing
sticks.  In this case, good
continuation would result in a
camouflage of the actual state
of affairs. In fact, camouflage,
both as it occurs in nature and
as it is produced by humans,
makes use of the principles of
organization to yield perceptual
objects different from the
actual objects present, either
by obscuring actual objects or
by creating perceptual objects
not actually present.