Gestalt Case

The Gestalt principles theory explains how people usually group visual elements whenever certain effects apply. Gestalt psychology looks into the human mind and their behavior as a whole idea. The major principles are similarity, continuity, closure, proximity, figure, and ground. Basically, our brain does the role of filling in the missing gap in our brain to make things seem like they are. For similarity; it makes object seem the same; in continuity it makes the eyes move through one object to another; in closure, if they object isn't completely drawn or filled; the brain fills in that gap; in proximity, the brain makes a bunch of small object close together seem like a group, and in figure and ground, the mind perceives if the figure is an object while the area behind it is seen as the background or the ground. The theory of these principles is called apparent motion, meaning we perceive motion when there is actually a rapid sequence of individual sensory events. For example, if you look at a crescent moon, your brain knows what the moon is supposed to look like and it fills in the gap. Magicians use this concept in a numerous amount of ways. Their main goal is to take your fill bodied attention away from the incidents occurring around them. Magicians rely on the audience to make assumptions on what their act is going to do. It becomes more simple for the magician if the audience doesn't question their filled in perceptions, because the magician's manipulations will be much harder to point out. For example, the famous cutting a woman in half illusion; if they audience already fill in the thought that the woman's head and feet are really just one body, the illusion has been achieved. Because your brain knows how the human body, they perception of the location of the woman's body doesn't mess with the actual orientation of her present body. Magicians exploit the perceptual tendencies people have to make their illusions seem more like