MODULE: Gestalt theory

Step 06 of 16: Closure

Let's quickly revisit the list of Gestalt theory before continuing with the ten Laws.
The four Gestalt Principles of perception we have covered already are;

The ten Gestalt Laws of grouping are;


As you will no doubt notice in the remaining pages, the high-level Gestalt Principles find instance in the lower-level Laws of grouping perception. The first of these Laws is Closure, which is related to the Principle of Reification, because it suggests that in order to simplify the noisey images we see, we resolve fragments of shapes and objects into groups by "closing the gaps" between them. For example in the example below, a series of degrading/decomposing arcs are visually grouped into circles. The figures A through D demonstrate how the process of grouping the segmented arcs becomes less coherent as the necessity of what must be imagined to close the circle increases and the actual clues decrease.

Gestalt Law of Closure
Figure 5. Gestalt Law of Closure: "closing" the circle, image source

Still we are able to provide ourselves visual "closure" by resolving the arcs as having some form of relationship with one another. In this case, forming a concentric ring and sharing a radius and center point. Despite being broken and independent fragments, the relationship between them in our mind is strong enough to warrant thinking of them as a whole.