CUES-PERCEPTION OF FORM

Form perception is the process of recognition of visual elements through the human eyes. Perception by the human eye can differ for the same object depending on its position, angle of vision, apparent size, eye frequency, and illumination level. Visual perception takes place through various environmental stimuli. Form perception can be described which is based on the gestalt principle which gives a rule by which the human eye can perceive an object properly.  

Critical explanation of form perception

Form perception is the visual recognition of the object by its outer patterns, shape, or by previously identified important characters. The retina of the human eye is responsible for getting the visualization of an object primarily and after that, the sensation of stimuli gets transferred into the sensory nerves of the brain to make a perception about that particular object. The retina can capture an object as a two-dimensional image. However, the image of that object can be varied even for the same object in terms of the context with which it is observed. The image of that object can differ by the apparent size of that object, by the angle of vision by which it is observed, by the illumination level, by the position at which it resides in the “field of vision”. The process of visualization is found to occur in a hierarchical pattern from the lowest level to highest level of perception. In the lowest level of visualization hierarchy, couture and lines are recognized and in the higher level, different performing tasks such as “recognizing contour combination” and “completing boundaries” are done. Perceived information can be integrated by the highest level for recognizing the whole object. The ability to assign labels to various objects is the main essential objective of visual recognition. To identify and categorize the different kinds of objectives, it is very important to assign labels to them. In this way, one object can be identified from another object. Any creation of information is not taken place during the process of visualization; rather the information is reformatted in a way so that it can be supportive to draw out the detailed information from the environmental stimulus.

Cues perception of Form based on gestalt   principles

The principle or rules designed by gestalt describe in which manner the human eye can perceive any visual element. The gestalt principle is very significant as it guides in which manner people perceive their life.  The word gestalt refers to pattern or form. Gestalt principle is guided by five components such as proximity, continuity, similarity, connectedness, closure. 

• Proximity: according to the “gestalt principle of proximity” when a person perceives many objects close together as “belonging together”. In this context, when the same type of objects having the same color, shape, and size are placed nearby, people perceive them as a group of objects if those objects are placed nearby. In this way, the visual perception is guided by the “gestalt principle of proximity”. 
• Similarity: in these aspects of similarity, like proximity, the similarity is not defined by the position rather it is defined by the number of similar items. In this context, if different breeds of dogs are placed within the different breeds of cats, the human eye can perceive them as the dogs and cats group, not because of their position rather they will perceive because of their similar category. 
• Continuity: the next principle of gestalt is continuity. The human brain observes and perceives things as continuous objects. In this context, a great example of this kind of phenomenon is movies where millions of pictures are found to be put together and flipped through at a high rate.  The human brain perceives those millions of pictures as a disjointed unit together into a smooth and cohesive unit just because of the continuity of the pictures.  
• Connectedness: the visual perception is also guided by the principle of connectedness as mentioned by gestalt. In this context, the human eye can perceive an object as one unit when they see an object as connected even if the disjointed objects. In this context, the human eye finds constellations in the sky as the picture is made up of dots.
•  Closure: the visual perception is guided by the closure principle made by gestalts. In this context, the human brain perceives big objects even if some elements of that image may not be present. In this context, if the different alphabets are not present in a row, it cannot be noticed because of the closure aspects.  

Different types of form perception

Perception can be categorized in different ways such as auditory perception, visual perception, olfactory perception, gustatory perception, and haptic perception. Different types of sensations have been found to occur in human life. Visual perception is guided by the human eye or by the retina. Auditory perception is guided by the human ear and different muscles of the ear such as the stapes muscle. Gustatory perception is related to the sensation of the taste of different dishes. The haptic perception is responsible for the perception related to the human touch.

Conclusion 

It can be concluded that perception about an object is guided by various characteristics of the object or the situation in which it is placed or viewed. Gestalt principle designed various perceptions of human beings which are guided by proximity, similarity, closure, connectedness, and continuity aspects of the objects. Form perception is the process of recognition of the visual element of any object.