In lesson 3 we learned about perception and Gestalt’s Laws of Perception. Some examples were provided to us which helped illustrate the way our brain aims to group similar things together. It is interesting how certain animals use their knowledge of perception to stay safe and practice deception on predators. Certain aquatic wildlife can change colors to blend in with the sand and ocean to remain unseen. In a secondary example, some bugs and birds use their natural colors to blend in with the leaves and trees surrounding them. Even humans wear camouflage while hunting, so we too can blend in with nature and get close to the animals.
The examples above are all ways that different animals use their knowledge of perception to achieve safety or be successful predators. Gestalt helps us break down the structure of perception as best he can with his grouping laws. The book tells us that while these are very well thought out and provide great insight, these are not a set-in-stone way of understanding perception. Our textbook gave us several examples of the Grouping Laws. My favorite was the Common Fate example that used Michael Bach’s Bird Illusion to show how we group things according to movement.
A real-life example from my personal life is the coyotes in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, they hunt our cats and small dogs and rely on Gestalt’s perception principle of common fate to not be seen while they try and sneak up on their prey. Since we tend to group things together and separate things according to movement, they remain very still for various periods of time to avoid triggering their prey’s brain which would alert them of the movement in their peripherals.
While they generally show themselves more at nighttime, it is amazing how they can hide during the day, just by remaining still and waiting for the proper moment to move. Many times, while walking the trails in my neighborhood, I have noticed a coyote standing very still and gazing at me and my dog, Mufassa. They are curious about us and use their skills to help them observe the neighborhood while remaining unseen by most people. They are masters of using perception to their advantage!
-Clayton Munoz
Hi Clayton! Your topic was an interesting read, and I couldn’t agree more. I also live in wooded-county area where wildlife is abundant, including coyotes. However you sound confident in your experience as I was scared out of my wits! I don’t know much about them, but I remembered from previous knowledge, it would be advantageous to act “big and loud”. So i did just that to ward him off. I was using top down processing, trying to retrieve anything I knew about coyotes to give off the perception that I was not to be reckoned with.
Thanks for sharing!
First of all, I want to thank you for writing on an interesting topic. I learned from your writing that the Gestalt Laws are a set of laws that appear in the reactions and phenomena of the person who perceives the type. When a person perceives a form, he first grasps the structure of the whole rather than a set of parts or elements of the object. Examples of Gestalt I think are tiles used for decoration of ancient architecture, pointillism by Impressionists including Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, works of art using the mosaic technique, toys using block mosaic represented by Lego, etc. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the Gestalt Law is applied.
Gestalt refers to a whole in which a form or form and its parts are organized by a certain relationship, and through various studies, he has created several laws for human perception of form: the law of proximity, the law of flow, the law of closure, and the continuity. laws, etc.
In subsequent studies, it can be applied to memory, learning, thinking, etc., and has had an impact not only on psychology, but also on the fields of art such as natural science, social science, painting, film, and music.
https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2130474/modules/items/33027060
Hi Clayton, I appreciate your comparison between Gestalt’s principles and the hunting methods of the coyote. Depending on where you live, your example may also demonstrate the principle of similarity due to the coyotes’ color and the surrounding environment (Goldstein, 2015). Coyotes are rarely seen where I live, so I’ve never witnessed their behavior firsthand. Your example makes me wonder if experience-dependent plasticity occurs in the animals who are hunted, yet survive. Goldstein (2015) explains that animals’ neurons change in response to the environment in which they live. Are the small dogs and cats where you live more equipped for survival versus the small dogs and cats where I live?
I’ve also witnessed the common fate principle in nature. While coming back from my mailbox, I noticed what I thought was a small snake slithering down my driveway. As I got closer, I was disgusted to find that it was actually a long cluster of insect larvae. Apparently, the larvae will cluster together and crawl over each other in order to move more quickly. This mechanism results in the slithering movement of the entire group.
Because the larvae were grouped and moving as one unit, I thought it was a snake. My perception demonstrates the principle of common fate. My incorrect perception could be an example of Helmholtz’s likelihood principle – since the snake was what I perceived to be the most likely creature in my driveway (Goldstein, 2015).
References
Goldstein, E. B. (2015). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Cengage Learning.