Perception: One might argue that perception rather than fact is what rule our lives, our decisions, our responses. Strictly speaking of perception using the definition from lesson three – taking information from our environment and converting it to action potentials in order to use these potentials to build a representation of our environment – Our personal world through which we decipher reality. The combination of bottom-up and top-down processing and how this combination works together to influence our actions is an amazing event. Our perception changes and we then see the truth to what was beforehand magical illusion. The Gestalt Grouping Laws provide great rule-of-thumb scenarios when this concept can be easily seen.
The Gestalt Grouping Laws are: Proximity, Similarity, Good Continuation, Connectedness, Common fate (movement), Pragnanz. Proximity states that we tend to group things close together. Similarity states that we will group things that appear the same. Good Continuation means that we’ll group things that continue with synchronicity. Connectedness will group objects that seem linked. Common fate group objects that move together as one. Pragnanz – think pragmatic- subsumes that we’ll perceive our environment in the simplest way possible.
A thorough understanding of these laws allows us to explain how we can perceive things incorrectly but we still have difficulty controlling the event as it is happening. In the “Hollow Mask” illusion I knew the mask was hollow. I told my brain it was hollow and the first couple times I watched it revolve around all I saw was a concaved face. Then I stopped thinking about the hollowness and like “magic” a contoured, tan face appeared to change direction and revolve in front of me.
I find that I use the six Gestalt laws most concentrated whenever I play paintball. Without previous knowledge of their terms; Proximity, Similarity, Good Continuation, Connectedness, Common Fate (most definitely) and Pragnanz are what I’ve been using to hunt and eliminate my opponent in the woods for years. In the past I would hear the same argument over and over. It was that I had an unfair advantage over other players because my wardrobe more closely blended in with my surroundings – camouflage. I was tired of hearing the complaints and through a wager, I stripped off my outer layering and played the rest of the day in a white tee shirt.
My little experiment enforces what I recently learned about perception, at least as a visual stimulus. I discovered that by breaking up my outline, moving very slowly, and staying close to large objects I was almost as effective as with my camo. The greatest difference being only the distance my opponent would get before I eliminated them. Before, with the camo, they could almost step on me before I marked them whereas with the white shirt they would see me at about 25 feet. Still, this distance was well within my striking range. Inversely, by focusing on movement through the brush, finding outlines among the trees, and a bit of Pragnanz, I’d find opponents long before they knew I was there.
Just for fun take a look at these pictures taken of actual snipers. Try to use some of Gestalt’s laws to find them. It is an interesting exercise.