Gestalt psychology's perception theory

Definition

the idea that our mind organizes sensory information into meaningful wholes or patterns, emphasizing the importance of the whole rather than its individual parts

Related terms

Figure-ground principle: our mind automatically separates an object from its background, allowing us to perceive it as distinct

Closure: our tendency to mentally fill in missing parts of an incomplete image or pattern

Proximity: the perceptual tendency to group objects that are close together as belonging to the same unit or pattern