MCAT® ExamPsychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of BehaviorMedium
A cognitive psychologist is studying how individuals perceive the completeness of shapes. Participants are shown a series of incomplete figures, such as a circle with a small gap or a square with one corner missing. Most participants report seeing the full, complete shapes despite the missing segments. This phenomenon is best explained by which Gestalt principle of perception?
- ASimilarity
- BClosure
- CContinuity
- DProximity
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Closure
The Gestalt principle of closure states that the human eye/brain tends to perceive incomplete figures as complete. Our minds fill in the missing information to create a whole, recognizable object.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Similarity suggests that similar objects tend to be grouped together.
- C. Continuity suggests that elements arranged on a line or curve are perceived as more related than elements not on the line or curve.
- D. Proximity suggests that objects near each other tend to be grouped together.
Gestalt Principle of Closure
A perceptual principle stating that humans tend to perceive incomplete shapes or figures as complete by filling in the missing information.
- Our minds prefer whole, recognizable objects
- Allows us to make sense of fragmented stimuli
- One of the fundamental Gestalt laws of perceptual organization
Memory trick: P-S-C-C-F-S: Proximity, Similarity, Closure, Continuity, Figure-Ground, Symmetry.