Recognition and Perception of Images. Группа авторов

Figure 1.3.14 Triangle and circle configuration.

Law of pregnancy or the law of good form – by this is meant the preferential perception of the simplest, most stable form of all possible, on the basis of various factors of grouping. For example, identifying a closed figure is easier than opening. Presented in Figure 1.3.14, on the left, we perceive the configuration as a superimposed figure of a triangle and a circle. However, it can be perceived in a different way, as a combination of three different figures.

      1.3.3 Subjective Contours

Sometimes the desire of our visual system to achieve closure can occur in a free area of the field of view; this leads to the appearance of boundaries or contours, which are called illusory or subjective. Examples of subjective contours are presented in Figure 1.3.15 [Abbasov, 2019].

      Pay attention to the fact that in some cases not only the outlines are visible, but also the figures completely. According to the Gestalt explanation, the difference in lightness of form and background leads to the fact that the figure appears lighter or more intense than the background.

Figure 1.3.16 presents the Necker cube with subjective circuits as an example of the cognitive approach [Abbasov, 2019]. When viewing a drawing, it is perceived as a three-dimensional figure in the form of a cube, behind the vertices of which there are dark circles with a texture. Although the entire cube is visible, the lines appearing as edges are illusory.

Figure 1.3.15 Subjective contours.

Figure 1.3.16 Necker’s subjective cube.

Our visual system, when perceived, also takes into account mutual overlap to determine the position of the figure. The main role in the formation of subjective contours is played by the perception of the central figure, which partially obscures or blocks the surrounding elements. The more pronounced the apparent overlap with the central figure (the silhouette of the palm and the girl), the faster the subjective contours appear (Figure 1.3.17).

If the elements that cause the appearance of the contour are themselves identified as closed, independent figures, the effect of the subjective contour appears weaker. In this case, the finished shape of the overlapping elements causes an alternating perception of the central figure and the overlapping elements (Figure 1.3.18).

The apparent overlap helps us to perceive subjective figures also on the basis of three-dimensional forms. With the help of gestalt cognitive perception, the flat pictures presented in Figure 1.3.19 acquire volume, create the illusion of composite three-dimensional forms [Abbasov, 2019].

Figure 1.3.17 Strengthening the subjective contour overlapping elements.

Figure 1.3.18 The weakening of the subjective central rectangular contour.

Figure 1.3.19 Three-dimensional subjective contours.

      1.3.4 The Dependence of Perception on the Orientation of the Figure

For us, additional recognition factors are the apparent orientation of the shape in a given context. As a sign of orientation, the observer takes into account the relative position of the top, bottom and borders of the figure. The unfamiliar shapes shown in Figure 1.3.20 seem to be different from the neighboring forms, although they are identical. The shapes on the right and on top due to the special position are recognized by us rather quickly; therefore, with the change of location, the perception of the figure also changes.

Figure 1.3.20 Perception of forms depending on orientation.

The ambiguous forms presented in Figure 1.3.21 in various combinations are perceived as shapeless spots, but they are created on the basis of the profile of a woman’s face, turned in various combinations [Arnheim, 1974], [Shiffman, 2008], [Abbasov, 2016].

Figure 1.3.21 Perception of ambiguous forms.

Figure 1.3.22 Recognition of the profile on the background and as a contour.

The perception process is influenced by past experience, memories, expectations, suggestion, and surroundings. Setting an observer under a certain perception of the surrounding world is called a perceptual setting. On Figure 1.3.22, on the left, four figures of irregular shape are shown, but as a profile of the face they are perceived in the right figure.

      The gestalt organization of perception takes into account the combination of “figure-background”, built on the factors of “good continuation” and closure.

      1.3.5 The Stroop Effect

The imposition of various installations based on the effect of J. Stroop is associated with the reading of textual characters in the presence of distracting factors. This effect is manifested in the fact that the subjects are slower to cope with the task, if they have to determine what color is printed on the word, which indicates a different color. For example, the word “blue” is printed in red