Have you ever found yourself mesmerized by a magic act and saying, “How did they do that?” I think we can all think back to childhood when it was “magic of course” but even an adult I find myself questioning slights of the eye. The Gestalt Laws of Perception outlined in Lesson 3 helped me to understand why illusionist can pull off the illogical and make people believe in “magic”.

The video provided in the lesson, “Impossible Balls” (YouTube.com) is an example of how Gestalt Laws of Perception works. While looking at the video you know that the balls are not going up the hill but with great mental effort you struggle to figure out the “magic”. However, after challenging myself by asking “How else can I view this?” I was able to understand the camera angle was giving the illusion of an upward slope.

With a little more critical thinking, I was able to see the role Gestalt Laws of Perception play on my everyday functioning. For instance, the idea of proximity helps you to read my posting as my spaces indicate where each word starts and ends rather than viewing each letter independently (Kepes, G., 1944). Surprisingly, Epelboim, Booth, and Steinman (1993) found that eliminating spaces in reading did not decrease the speed at which a person reads but did impact the accuracy of the individual’s ability to read text.

These early principals have contributed to fields such as the graphic arts and movie design. Understanding how the mind groups together like objects based on prior experiences has impacted the way in which graphic artist develop interactive media designs (Graham, 2008). Because people expect certain experiences, such as illustrated in the National Geographic Brain Game video (Video 3.1, Lesson 3), the change of the shadow totally changed the experience with the ball and it’s behavior. Development of commercials, 3-D movies, and advertisements rely on these laws to catch the attention of the viewing audience.

The minds natural response to apply Gestalt Laws of Perception to simplify our responses in life saves great time, such as to read. However, when these laws are directly challenged, such as an optical illusion, it as easily reminds us to question what we view and look at life from another perspective. While I may understand as an adult there is no such thing as “magic”, after reading this lesson I have a better understanding of why my mind is so easily tricked into believing in magic.

References:

Epelboim, J, Booth, J.R., & Steinman, R.M. (1993). Reading Unspaced Text: Implications for

Theories of Reading Eye Movements. Vision Resources, Vol 34, 1735-1766.

Graham, L. (2008). Gestalt Theory in Interactive Media design. Journal of Humanities & Social

Sciences.

Kepes, G. (1944). Language of Vision. Chicago, Il; Paul Theobald.