The following new phenomena will test the limits and incompleteness of the similarity principle. Rather, it is necessary to introduce a complementary principle of dissimilarity. Nevertheless, the main purpose of this work is to demonstrate that the use of this term alone is not sufficient to understand the dynamics of grouping fully and correctly and, more generally, that it is not sufficient for a full understanding of perceptual organization occurring in the previous and in the following conditions. Some authors looked at how similarity up to a low similarity and discontinuity allowed regions to be grouped together and segmented. As proof, it is no coincidence that the similarity principle has never been challenged before (for a unique exception, see Vicario, 1998). According to Wertheimer, the similarity principle is responsible for the grouping, stating that, all else being equal, the most similar elements are grouped together creating columns, rows and oblique wholes, respectively, in Figure 1b–d.Īt first sight, Wertheimer’s description appears, immediately, to be the only possible one that is also consistent with the described outcomes. Under this condition, the new kind of grouping is playing independently and against the proximity principle, since the amplitude of diagonals interspaced between elements is longer than the horizontal/vertical ones. ![]() In the same way as before, diagonal grouping of dots can be highlighted through the contrast polarity as shown in Figure 1d. ![]() Most of the stimuli here presented are based on contrast polarity (black and white elements within a 50% gray background) since it likely elicits the strongest dissimilarity effect among elements, given the greatest luminance difference. ![]() Analogous outcomes can be obtained by making the color, the shape or other attributes of the elements dissimilar. Stated differently, the similar proximities of rows and columns can be broken by introducing dissimilarities in between them, for example, a kind of similarity different from proximity. By reversing the contrast, the salience of the two orthogonal directions is now much stronger than the one of Figure 1a. However, to break this stability, without playing with the proximity principle, it is sufficient to introduce another kind of dissimilarity among columns and rows, as illustrated, respectively, in Figure 1b,c. Easily, it follows that the salience of rows or columns can be alternatively enhanced or weakened by making the distance among them dissimilar (not illustrated). None of the two directions win however, their similarity/equality in terms of proximity imparts to the square matrix a strong sense of stability and equilibrium between the two directions. It is worth noting that the similarity/equality of proximities between rows and columns makes the perception very reversible, switching rows to columns and vice versa. Diagonal arrangements are very dissimilar and are difficult to perceive in spite of attentional efforts. In Figure 1a, the proximity groups the dots along the vertical and horizontal directions, creating a square matrix of rows and columns. The Gestalt principles of proximity and similarity: all else being equal, the closest and most-similar elements are grouped together creating an uniform square matrix ( a), columns ( b), rows ( c) and oblique arrangements ( d). The results demonstrated the necessity to introduce a principle of dissimilarity that is complementary to similarity as already studied by Gestalt psychologists. Dissimilarity was shown as a basic principle of figure–ground segregation, as a tool useful to create at will new groups and visual objects within patterns where they are totally invisible, as an attribute that is able to accentuate different shape components within the same object, as a way to distort shapes and create visual illusions, but also to reduce or annul them and, finally, to decompose, ungroup and reshape single objects. ![]() Limits and incompleteness of the similarity principle have suggested the basic, more general and stronger role of dissimilarity in perceptual grouping under a large variety of conditions. More generally, this work aims to show that the Gestalt principle of similarity alone is not sufficient for a full understanding of perceptual organization occurring both in the classical and mostly in the new phenomena here presented. The main purpose of this work is to explore the Gestalt principle of similarity and to demonstrate that the use of this term alone is not sufficient to understand the dynamics of grouping fully and correctly.
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