Gestault is a

psychology term which means unified whole. It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. PRINCIPLES similarity closure proximity continuation figure and ground

Similarity/Grouping Similar elements and atributes grouped into collective entities. The mind groups similar elements into collective entities or totalities. This similarly might depend on relationships of form, color, size, or brightness.

Closure The mind may experience elements it does not percieve through sensation in order to complete a regular figure (thats is to increase regularity).

Proximity Spatial or temporal proximity of elements may induce the mind to percieve a collective or totality.

Continuation Occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

Figure / Ground Elements are perceived as either figures (distinct elements of focus) or ground (the background or landscape on which the figures rest).

Reification The constructive or generative aspect of perception, by which the experienced percept contains more explicit spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.

Multistability The tendency of ambiguous perceptual experiences to pop back and forth unstably between two or more alternative interpretations.

Pragnatz is a German word meaning good figure. The law of Pragnanz is sometimes referded to as the law of good figure or the law of simplicity. This law holds that objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible. Painting By De Stijl member Bart Van der Leck.

Law of Symetry (Figure ground relationship) Symetrical images are percived collectively, even in spite of distance. Law of Continuity The mind continues visual, auditory, and kinetic patterns. Law of Common Fate Elemnts with the same moving direction are percieved as a collective or unit.