Browsing by Subject "Gestalt"

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Open Access
Using eye tracking to understand the impact of visual complexity and perceptual fluency on viewers’ aesthetic preferences
(2024-09) Beder, Dilara
This study investigates the interplay between cognitive styles, visual complexity, and aesthetic evaluations in environmental psychology and architectural design, utilizing Gestalt principles. Our research was divided into two studies. In Study I, we examined the aesthetic evaluations of 24 two-dimensional geometric stimuli, manipulated using the Gestalt principles of similarity based on color and shape differences, with 39 participants. In Study II, we focused on architectural façades and used 24 two-dimensional stimuli, manipulated through the Gestalt principles of similarity and proximity, to assess aesthetic evaluations with 79 participants. Participants were classified as Field Dependent or Field Independent using the Hidden Figures Test. Additionally, we collected their aesthetic evaluations through questionnaires, supported by eye-tracking data to assess visual attention. Study I revealed a U-shaped relationship between visual complexity and aesthetic evaluations, with both low and high complexity stimuli rated higher than medium complexity ones. Study II found an inverse relationship between complexity and aesthetic ratings, with simpler façades generally preferred. Gestalt principles significantly influenced aesthetic judgments, with shape-based similarity rated higher than color-based similarity for geometric designs, and proximity-based façades rated higher than similarity-based façades in architectural contexts. Although cognitive styles did not significantly impact overall aesthetic evaluations, nuanced differences were identified in the responses of Field Dependent participants when comparing proximity-based to similarity-based designs. Gaze metrics data indicated that higher complexity levels led to more fixations and shorter fixation durations, reflecting more extensive visual exploration. These findings offer insights into how cognitive styles, complexity, and Gestalt principles shape aesthetic perceptions, informing design practices to enhance user experience.
Open Access
Why vision is not both hierarchical and feedforward
(Frontiers, 2014) Herzog, M.; Clarke, Aaron
In classical models of object recognition, first, basic features (e.g., edges and lines) are analyzed by independent filters that mimic the receptive field profiles of V1 neurons. In a feedforward fashion, the outputs of these filters are fed to filters at the next processing stage, pooling information across several filters from the previous level, and so forth at subsequent processing stages. Low-level processing determines high-level processing. Information lost on lower stages is irretrievably lost. Models of this type have proven to be very successful in many fields of vision, but have failed to explain object recognition in general. Here, we present experiments that, first, show that, similar to demonstrations from the Gestaltists, figural aspects determine low-level processing (as much as the other way around). Second, performance on a single element depends on all the other elements in the visual scene. Small changes in the overall configuration can lead to large changes in performance. Third, grouping of elements is key. Only if we know how elements group across the entire visual field, we can determine performance on individual elements, i.e., challenging the classical stereotypical filtering approach, which is at the very heart of most vision models.