3.3.2 Construal principles of image-G recognition
3.3.2.1 Gestalt principles of perceptual organization and Gestalt characteristics of image-G recognition
Gestalt perception is the designation appointed to numerous perceptual phenomena and conceptual principles correlated with the school of Gestalt psychology.Its significant theoretical essence is closely related with perceptual organization,involving inherent and essential features of connection between parts and wholes,together with how the organization of parts and wholes is determined by human sensory experience and cognitive processing.In the past research,perceptual theory was under the upper hand over the structuralist propositions in which a whole consists of parts and the parts constitute a whole.They insisted that complicated perceptual phenomena were formulated from particles of basic color perception and consciousness and integrated by associations since proximity of spatial and temporal nature(Pinna,2009).The research was not well aware that the organization of perceptual phenomena is a sensory fact owing to that they are under the influence of and constrained by the empirical preconception.Gestalt psychology scholars turn down such suppositions,indicating that perception is intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.It is organized on account of reciprocal effect between structure and latent cognitive operation(Werner,1998).
The issue of Gestalt perceptualorganization put forward by Wertheimer(1996)concerns how human being succeeds in discerning grouping scenes making up of surfaces and parts.Human beings'retinal receptors exhibit a systematically organized whole in mental procedure,rather than disorderly and energetic aggregation of zillions of nonidentical elements.Wertheimer(1996)managed to explore this matter in question by finding out impetus features that brought about fundamental formation of elements to be discerned as well ordered in individual grouping scene.The features he diagnosed are generally called the principles of grouping scene,such as proximity,common fate,good continuation,element connectedness and common region.In one and all principles of grouping scene,elements which share a close interdependence in regard to the specified characteristics and qualities incline to be categorized together.More precisely,those specified characteristics and qualities pertain to unit grouping may be set isolated and concluded to a larger unit,but with their distinctiveness kept.Sensory experience,discussed above,is received via perceptual mechanisms.These mechanisms are rather sophisticated,however,and provide structure that is not necessarily apparent in the raw perceptual input.In other words,what human being perceive is not necessarily the same as what they experience directly.
Gestalt perception has some certain principles in assembling information,which are referred to as Gestalt principles of perceptual organization.Gestalt perceptual organization provides clues to psychophysical field and isomorphism,which have an overwhelming impact on various Gestalt principles of perceptual organization.Gestalt principles of perceptual organization refer to specific ways humans automatically and holistically organize their psychological field and isomorphism.They are principles of closure,good continuation,proximity,similarity,symmetry and simplicity respectively.These principles are actually equal in function and the utility of their patterns can be considered as representation of closely-related psychological form contributing to conceptual content,among which,principle of continuity and principle of closure are the cores and elementary tenets.Principle of closure conveys the indication of continual tendency and is a precondition for good continuation requirements and perceptual boundary conditions.The other Gestalt perception principles are mainly derived from the two laws and are particular secondary reference forms of the two laws(Pomerantz & Kubovy,1986).Psychological representations of principles of closure and good continuation display a trend to attain the utmost degree of uniformity with the minimum disbursement of cognitive endeavor carried out by human being's perceptual operation.
A few scholars hold that Gestalt principles of perceptual organization not only cope with Gestalt perception alone but also can be adopted as cognitive instrument for image-G perceptual related studies(Jiang,1997;Jiang & Quan,2000;Wang,2005).Based on holistic pattern of conceptual archetypes,Gestalt principles of perceptual organization may provide a perceptual model for the multidimensional research on cognitive science study on account of its implication of automatic and parallel nature of perceptual organization.They are readily and innately used as a means to organize the conceptual model in human being's perceptual organization.A further integration of Gestalt principles of perceptual organization with cognitive science study requires further progress respecting the conceptual foundation of the Gestalt approach.By taking the mutual interdependence relations between Gestalt perception and image-G perceptual related studies into consideration,it is feasible to obtain much more general truth towards that direction.Above all,it seems to be easily accessible to figure out a quintessential feature of Gestalt perceptual organization that is similar to Gestalt characteristics of image-G recognition.Thus Gestalt characteristics of human beings'recognition of image-G are correlated with the phenomenological application of Gestalt principles of perceptual organization.
3.3.2.2 Principle of closure
The designation of law of closure,originated by Wertheimer(1996),is regarded as one of the fundamentally Gestalt principles of perceptual organization,involving aspects of visual organization,psychological recognition as well as mental perception.From the perspective of visual perception,it possesses a predisposition to surround a circle by completing an outline and eliding separation line in the silhouette.On a deeper level,defective wholes,which are embedded in forms of observance,conception,presumption memories and active deed and so on,are also prone to shape a subjective enclosure of integrated configuration(Kosslyn & Julesz,1998).In Figure 3.1,it can be perceived that those ink spots,which look in congruous and in succession with each other,tend to be appeared into three complete circular tracks.These ink spots form three almost closed circles and in that case we see no longer merely several ink spots on a homogeneous background,but three surface circles bounded by these ink spots.As a result,an indication that is supported by the finding is that a tendency of Gestalt qualities towards good closure can yield changes in image-G recognition.
Figure 3.1 Principle of closure(Wertheimer,1996:176)
3.3.2.3 Principle of good continuity
Another major Gestalt principle of perceptual organization is principle of good continuity,which is a reference denoting a tendency for language,sonic and image stimulus received by human brain to be conceptually categorized to construct smooth contours(Wertheimer,1996).When there is an intersection between two or more objects,human being tend to perceive each object as a single uninterrupted object.This allows differentiation of stimuli even when they come in visual overlap.We have a tendency to group and organize lines or curves that follow an established direction over those defined by sharp and abrupt changes in direction(Enns,2003).Principle of good continuity is deeply convinced that the sum of continuous contour to some degree with adjacent fellows is much more sophisticated and enriching than that of discontinuous or asymmetric contours.Congruous cognitive elements which are in agreement,harmony and correspondence with each other are easy to be perceptually organized so as to pare down disconnectedness and irregular variation.As shown in Figure 3.2,it is always apprehended as the crisscrossing of two winding and tortuous lines,rather than four unconnected lines made of six to eight ink spots or a collection of separate ink spots on a blank background.As a result,an indication that is supported by the finding is that Gestalt qualities in a scene that share the confirmation of collinearity and parallelism will be recognized as belonging together in image-G.
Figure 3.2 Principle of good continuity(Wertheimer,1996:182)
3.3.2.4 Principle of similarity(https://www.daowen.com)
The principle of similarity states that,all else being equal,perception lends itself to seeing stimuli that physically resemble each other as part of the same object,and stimuli that are different as part of a different object.This allows for human being to distinguish between adjacent and overlapping objects based on their visual texture and resemblance(Wertheimer,1996).Other stimuli that have different features are generally not perceived as part of the object.Our brain uses similarity to distinguish between objects which might lie adjacent to or overlap with each other based upon their visual texture.A series of cognitive stimulus that are in agreement,harmony,or correspondence with each other are prone to be conceptually organized in alliance.These cognitive elements with similar qualities and characteristics like volume,color,configuration or height are perceived by human brain as components of the corresponding contour.This principle holds that entities in a scene that share visual characteristics such as size,shape or color will be perceived as belonging together in a group.For instance,in Figure 3.3,we perceive columns of shapes(rather than rows).In fact,the shapes are equidistant on both the horizontal and vertical axes.It is due to the principle of similarity that similar shapes(filled circles or empty circles)are grouped together and perceived as columns.Thus an indication that is supported by the finding is that a tendency of Gestalt qualities towards similarity can yield changes in image-G recognition.
Figure 3.3 Principle of similarity(Wertheimer,1996:189)
3.3.2.5 Principle of proximity
Wertheimer claimed that segments that are in closer proximity with each other are always conceptually discerned by human being as a systematic contour(Wertheimer,1996).The law of proximity emphasizes that ultimate constituent of a contour between several segments heightens as all of them are in the neighborhood at close quarters.It states that objects or shapes that are close to one another appear to form groups.Even if the shapes,sizes,and objects are radically different,they will appear as a group if they are close.Principle of proximity is deeply convinced that elements in a scene that are closer together will be seen as belonging together in a group.This is illustrated in Figure 3.4,the consequence of the greater proximity of these ink spots on the horizontal axis than on the vertical axis means that we perceive the dots in this image as being organized into rows rather than columns.If the scene is altered so that these ink spots are closer together on the vertical axis,then we perceive a series of columns.
Figure 3.4 Principle of proximity(Wertheimer,1996:195)
In image-G recognition,it accordingly refers to the way Gestalt qualities are“assembled”in imagery.It concerns the effect generated when the collective presence of the set of Gestalt qualities becomes more meaningful than their presence as separate elements.Arranging Gestalt qualities into imagery is an obvious way to group related Gestalt elements to enhance the semantics of image-G(it also depends on a correct order for comprehension).Gestalt elements which are grouped together change the perceptual pattern of image-G recognition,even if these elements are not closely interrelated.Grouping these Gestalt elements also changes the psychological meaning of the composition in non-verbal ways unrelated to the semantics of image-G.
3.3.2.6 Principle of symmetry
The principle of symmetry states that,all else being equal,perception lends itself to seeing stimuli that physically symmetric with each other as part of the same object,and stimuli that are different as part of a different object.This allows for human being to distinguish between adjacent and overlapping objects based on their symmetrical characteristic(Wertheimer,1996).This principle holds that a segment conceptually autonomous to the symmetric extent is accessible to be conceptualized as the cue,which can be realized without imposing additional psychological informativity to autonomous core construal of the cue on its own.Other related symmetric segments are not conceptually problematic if conceptualization of these segments needs to make categorical predictions of their possessed patterns.
The principle of symmetry has been regarded as a determinant affecting the conceptual comprehensibility of line silhouette in Gestalt intuition(Arnheim,1997),and as a categorical cue in visual morphology of image identification(Jacobs,2003;Lowe,2005).As shown in Figure 3.5,the subsequent ten brackets are conceptually apprehended as a grouping consisted of five pairs of symmetrical brackets instead of ten isolated single brackets.Segments that are in cognitive agreement with each other and are circumscribed by symmetrical denotation are likely to be perceived as coherent contours.In addition,cognitive stimulus is similar in which they are characteristically symmetric with each other since the law of symmetry could be regarded as a subordinate classification of the law of similarity.It could be remarked that the law of symmetry also works for image-G recognition since there is an alternative mechanism which possesses the Gestalt analogy.
Figure 3.5 Principle of symmetry(Wertheimer,1996:232)