Impossible Trident

In a culture where the internet regularly revamps, reintroduces, and regurgitates illusions of all kinds for karma, likes and meme points, there are many different examples of media that demonstrate the Gastalt Principles of Organization and often where these guides of perception fall short. While there are many examples of illusions that I was able to pick from for this assignment, I felt drawn to talk about the impossible trident. If you’re unfamiliar with the impossible trident, it most likely is due to the name; this optical illusion has been a staple in psychology and neurology textbooks for eons, though sometimes with a different descriptor. The reason I selected the impossible trident for this week’s blog post is twofold. First off, no matter how much I stare at the image, no matter how many times I’ve revisited it over the years, the simple line drawing still feels hard to perceive. Simply put, it breaks my brain. Secondly, I believe the impossible trident is able to not only demonstrate multiple of Gastalt Principles of Organization, it also shows how they can compete as we try to perceive our environment.

Personally, I believe that the most recognizable Gastalt Principle within the impossible trident illusion is the law of pragnanz. This law states that “Every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible” (Goldstein, 65). In an effort for our brain to understand the impossible trident, it tries to format either end into simple geometric shapes. On one end there are 3 cylindrical tubes, while on the other end we see a rectangular prism shape. Simple enough. However, as our eyes try to connect the two ends, the principle of trying to keep structures simple as possible breaks down. Curved sides become flat sides and vice versa.

This moves nicely into another principle: that of good continuation, which states “Points that, when connected, result in straight or smooth curving lines are seen as belonging together, and the lines tend to be seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path” (Goldstein, 65). This is another way of describing the visual confusion that one might experience when looking at the center of the impossible trident. Our brain wants to make sense of the smooth transition of the middle, yet it seems like a curved line is transforming into a straight line and back again.

Finally, it can also be suggested that the principle of similarity is at play when perceiving the impossible trident. Stating that “Similar things to appear to be grouped together” (Goldstein, 66), we want to understand the 3 cylindrical tubes as being equal, natural grouping them together. However, this is impossible. They must be different in their endings to create a shape that looks like it’s hinged on two ends.

While the impossible trident may seem like an illusion that demonstrates the failures of the Gastalt Principles of Organization to perceive things correctly, it does demonstrate the processes in which our minds are trying to make sense of the shape. Therefore, we can conclude that these processes are part of our brain’s strategies of organization, no matter how wrong they may be in the circumstance.

References

Goldstein, E. B. (2015). Chapter 3 – Perception. In Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience (pp. 51–83). essay, Cengage Learning.