The combination operation of grouping and ensemble coding for structured biological motion crowds in working memory.

Massive studies have explored biological motion (BM) crowds processing for their remarkable social significance, primarily focused on uniformly distributed ones. However, real-world BM crowds often exhibit hierarchical structures rather than uniform arrangements. How such structured BM crowds are processed remains a subject of inquiry. This study investigates the representation of structured BM crowds in working memory (WM), recognizing the pivotal role WM plays in our social interactions involving BM. We propose the group-based ensemble hypothesis and test it through a member identification task. Participants were required to discern whether a presented BM belonged to a prior memory display of eight BM, each with distinct walking directions. Drawing on prominent Gestalt principles as organizational cues, we constructed structured groups within BM crowds by applying proximity and similarity cues in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. In Experiment 3, we deliberately weakened the visibility of stimuli structures by increasing the similarity between subsets, probing the robustness of results. Consistently, our findings indicate that BM aligned with the mean direction of the subsets was more likely to be recognized as part of the memory stimuli. This suggests that WM inherently organizes structured BM crowds into separate ensembles based on organizational cues. In essence, our results illuminate the simultaneous operation of grouping and ensemble encoding mechanisms for BM crowds within WM.

Outcomes of patients enrolled in a prospective and randomized trial on basis of gestalt assessment or ABC score.

BACKGROUND: The Pragmatic Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios (PROPPR) trial rapidly enrolled patients based on an Assessment of Blood Consumption (ABC) ≥ 2 score, or physician gestalt (PG) when ABC score was <2. The objective of this study was to describe what patients were enrolled by the two methods and whether patient outcomes differed based on these enrollments. We hypothesized that there would be no differences in outcomes based on whether patients were enrolled via ABC score or PG. METHODS: Patients were enrolled with an ABC ≥ 2 or by PG when ABC was <2 by the attending trauma surgeon. We compared 1-hour, 3-hour, 6-hour, 12-hour, 18-hour, and 24-hour mortality, 30-day mortality, time to hemostasis, emergent surgical or interventional radiology procedure and the proportion of patients who required either >10 units of blood in 24 hours or >3 units in 1 hour. RESULTS: Of 680 patients, 438 (64%) were enrolled on the basis of an ABC score ≥2 and 242 (36% by PG when the ABC score was <2). Patients enrolled by PG were older (median, 44; interquartile range [IQR], 28-59; p < 0.001), more likely to be White (70.3% vs. 60.3%, p = 0.014), and more likely to have been injured by blunt mechanisms (77.3% vs. 37.2%, p < 0.001). They were also less hypotensive and less tachycardic than patients enrolled by ABC score (both p < 0.001). The groups had similar Injury Severity Scores in the ABC ≥ 2 and PG groups (26 and 27, respectively) and were equally represented (49.1% and 50.8%, respectively) in the 1:1:1 treatment arm. There were no significant differences between the ABC score and PG groups for mortality at any point. Time to hemostasis (108 for patients enrolled on basis of Gestalt, vs. 100 minutes for patients enrolled on basis of ABC score), and the proportion of patients requiring a massive transfusion (>10 units/24 hours) (44.2% vs. 47.3%), or meeting the critical administration threshold (>3 unit/1 hour) (84.7% vs. 89.5%) were similar ( p = 0.071). CONCLUSION: Early identification of trauma patients likely to require a massive transfusion is important for clinical care, resource use, and selection of patients for clinical trials. Patients enrolled in the PROPPR trial based on PG when the ABC score was <2 represented 36% of the patients and had identical outcomes to those enrolled on the basis of an ABC score of ≥2. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic and Epidemiological; Level III.

Gestalt theory in 20th-century history.

During the century from the 1890 publication of Ehrenfels's proposition on Gestaltqualitäten to the 1989 dissolution of the European states governed by Marxist orthodoxy, Gestalt theory was drawn into the political fray in several ways. It was grotesquely misappropriated during the Nazi regime in support of race, territorial expansion, and war aims. On the other side, because it was seen as having a subjectivist taint, the Gestalt approach was anathema where dialectical materialist dogma reigned. In contrast, close reading of the seminal 1912 Wertheimer paper and the 1920 Köhler book reveals that the Gestalt founders' views accord well with current Gestalt research.

Fundamental units of numerosity estimation.

Humans can approximately enumerate a large number of objects at a single glance. While several mechanisms have been proposed to account for this ability, the fundamental units over which they operate remain unclear. Previous studies have argued that estimation mechanisms act only on topologically distinct units or on units formed by spatial grouping cues such as proximity and connectivity, but not on units grouped by similarity. Over four experiments, we tested this claim by systematically assessing and demonstrating that similarity grouping leads to underestimation, just as spatial grouping does. Ungrouped objects with the same low-level properties as grouped objects did not cause underestimation. Further, the underestimation caused by spatial and similarity grouping was additive, suggesting that these grouping processes operate independently. These findings argue against the proposal that estimation mechanisms operate solely on topological units. Instead, we conclude that estimation processes act on representations constructed after Gestalt grouping principles, whether similarity based or spatial, have organised incoming visual input.

The Application of the Gestalt Theory in Music Psychotherapy for Piano.

This paper presents an in-depth study and analysis of the application of the Gestalt theory to music psychotherapy for piano. The paper focuses on how to apply the "whole and part" and "epiphany" perspectives of the Gestalt learning theory to singing and music appreciation lessons. In addition, the Gestalt school's ideas of developing creative thinking, creating problematic situations, and transferring learning were demonstrated through the implementation of teaching cases. There are differences in the effects of different music on the distribution of body surface temperature; there are differences in the effects of yang music on the Directing Vessel compared to the effects of yin music on the Directing Vessel, and the effects are following the hierarchical model of thinking; there are individual differences in the magnitude of the effects of the same music on the body surface temperature of different people, and the identification of music needs to be combined with the three factors. The wavelet energy entropy (WEE) characteristics of EEG signals were extracted as the input of the designed and optimized deep belief network model, and the average emotional classification accuracy of EEG signals in the left and right brain regions could be obtained as 84.20% and 83.07%, respectively, under the condition of distinguishing brain regions and different music environments. Compared with the classification accuracies of DBN, restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), and K nearest neighbor (kNN) algorithms in mixed music environments, the classification effects were improved by about 3.49%, 12.89%, and 7.24%. Relying on the ability-poor theory and Weiner attribution theory, different types of secondary school students, their psychological characteristics, and their causes were pointed out. Combined with the psychological characteristics, the case study illustrates the positive effect of music therapy on psychological support.

A computational model for gestalt proximity principle on dot patterns and beyond.

The human visual system has the ability to group parts of stimuli into larger, inherently structured units. In this article, a computational model inspired by tolerance space theory simulating the human perceptual grouping of dot patterns is proposed. Tolerance space theory introduces a tolerance relation to a discrete set to formulate the continuity of the discrete patterns. The model proposed herein includes one- and two-reach methods based on the assumption that dot patterns can be represented in the proposed extended tolerance space (ETS). Both methods are used to construct a ratio neighborhood graph (RANG), calculate tolerance from the diagram, compute the new RANG, and then rebuild continuous structures from the new RANG with a combinatorial procedure. Experiments are conducted to show the high consistency of the proposed model with human perception for various shapes of dot patterns, its ability to simulate Gestalt proximity and similarity principles, and its potential application in computer vision. In addition, the close relationship of the proposed model with the Pure Distance Law is comprehensively revealed, and the hierarchical representation of perceptual grouping is simulated with an adaptation of the proposed model based on the ETS.

Predictive Value of Clinician "Gestalt" in Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia.

OBJECTIVES: Validated prognostic tools for pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) do not exist. Thus, clinicians rely on "gestalt" in management decisions for children with CAP. We sought to determine the ability of clinician gestalt to predict severe outcomes. METHODS: We performed a prospective cohort study of children 3 months to 18 years old presenting to a pediatric emergency department (ED) with lower respiratory infection and receiving a chest radiograph for suspected CAP from 2013 to 2017. Clinicians reported the probability that the patient would develop severe complications of CAP (defined as respiratory failure, empyema or effusion, lung abscess or necrosis, metastatic infection, sepsis or septic shock, or death). The primary outcome was development of severe complications. RESULTS: Of 634 children, 37 (5.8%) developed severe complications. Of children developing severe complications after the ED visit, 62.1% were predicted as having <10% risk by the ED clinician. Sensitivity was >90% at the <1% predicted risk threshold, whereas specificity was >90% at the 10% risk threshold. Gestalt performance was poor in the low-intermediate predicted risk category (1%-10%). Clinicians had only fair ability to discriminate children developing complications from those who did not (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve 0.747), with worse performance from less experienced clinicians (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve 0.693). CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians have only fair ability to discriminate children with CAP who develop severe complications from those who do not. Clinician gestalt performs best at very low or higher predicted risk thresholds, yet many children fall in the low-moderate predicted risk range in which clinician gestalt is limited. Evidence-based prognostic tools likely can improve on clinician gestalt, particularly when risk is low-moderate.

O ano de 2021 principia em meio às mesmas incertezas que nos acompanharam no ano anterior; todavia, a produção de pesquisas e reflexões manteve-se ativa e diversificada [Editorial]

O ano de 2021 principia em meio às mesmas incertezas que nos acompanharam no ano anterior; todavia, a produção de pesquisas e reflexões manteve-se ativa e diversificada. Esse primeiro número apresenta reflexões em torno de variados temas, como medicina, paganismo, saúde mental, relações digitais, gênero, zen-budismo, comunicação não-violenta, pessoa idosa, além de discussões filosóficas em torno de Scheler e Husserl.

Conflict defined by global gestalt can modulate binocular rivalry suppression.

Binocular rivalry suppression is thought to necessarily require local interocular conflict: the presence of incompatible image elements, such as orthogonal contours, in retinally corresponding regions of two monocular displays. Whether suppression can also be driven by conflict at the level of spatially nonlocal surface or object representations is unclear. Here, we kept local contour conflict constant while varying global conflict, defined by the gestalt formed by the two monocular displays. Specifically, each eye was presented with a grid of image elements (crosses or plusses), placed such that the two eyes' individual grid elements did not directly overlap but the grids as a whole did. In a "shared motion" condition, all elements moved in unison, inviting a gestalt made up of all elements across both eyes; in a "different motions" condition, the elements' trajectories differed between eyes, inviting a gestalt of two overlapping surfaces, each associated with one eye. Perceptual disappearances of image elements occurred more readily in the different motions condition, an observation that could not be explained by any between-condition differences in local contour conflict. In a second experiment, we furthermore established that, whereas perceptual disappearances in the shared motion condition tended to involve a single element at a time, in the different motions condition, multiple elements belonging to the same gestalt often disappeared together. These findings indicate that, even though binocular rivalry may critically rely on inhibition due to locally incompatible image elements, this inhibition also depends on the global gestalt to which these elements contribute.

Este novo número da Revista da Abordagem Gestáltica traz um conjunto de pesquisas empíricas, em torno de temas diversificados, como a experiência de ser esposa de um policial militar, a reflexão sobre a vida e a morte para mães de bebês em UTI, o suicídio em mídias digitais e a experiência de cardiopatas submetidos a cirurgia [Editorial] / This new issue of Revista da Aprendizagem Gestáltica brings a set of empirical research, around diverse themes, such as the experience of being the wife of a military policeman, reflection on life and death for mothers of babies in ICU, suicide in digital media and the experience of cardiac patients undergoing surgery [Editorial]

Este novo número da Revista da Abordagem Gestáltica traz um conjunto de pesquisas empíricas, em torno de temas diversificados, como a experiência de ser esposa de um policial militar, a reflexão sobre a vida e a morte para mães de bebês em UTI, o suicídio em mídias digitais e a experiência de cardiopatas submetidos a cirurgia. Continua com reflexões teóricas sobre fundamentos de pesquisa em psicologia ­ com respeito à "Análise Fenomenológica Interpretativa" ­ e sobre a mundaneidade do corpo, numa aproximação com a Gestalt-terapia; atravessa debates em torno da Daseinsanálise, da discussão sobre perspectivas existenciais ­ tomando a cinematografia como objeto ­ e finaliza com diálogos entre a psicologia existencialista e a temática do Território em saúde mental. O número encerra com uma revisão de literatura que toca um tema caro à Gestalt-terapia ­ o "ajustamento criativo" ­ correlacionando-o aos processos de saúde e doença. Convidamos o leitor a apreciar a leitura.

O polo de estudos gestálticos como espaço de tecitura entre ensino, pesquisa e extensão: uma psicologia que se faz no feminino / The pole of gestaltic studies as a weaving space that binds teaching, research and extension: doing psychology in a feminine way / El polo de los estudios gestálticos como espacio de tejido entre enseñanza, investigación y extensión: una psicología que se realiza en el femenino

Neste artigo, temos o intuito de apresentar o Polo de Estudos Gestálticos, grupo de estudos que se faz constituído por três projetos de extensão, "Laboratório Gestáltico: Configurações e Práticas Contemporâneas", "GAPsi - Grupos de Apoio Psicológico", "COMtextos: Arte e Livre Expressão na Abordagem Gestáltica" e pelo projeto de pesquisa "Versões do Sofrimento Psíquico Construídas por Jovens na Contemporaneidade: Articulações entre a Teoria Ator-Rede e a Clínica Gestáltica". Valendo-nos da metáfora da tecitura, vamos tecer juntas esse espaço que chamamos de Polo, onde cada um dos nossos fazeres é representado por um tipo de linha, costurando-os entre ensino, pesquisa e extensão, a partir de uma Psicologia que se faz no feminino. Apoiadas em Annemarie Mol, Laura Perls, Fritz Perls, Paulo Freire, entre outras(os), além das nossas experiências, propomos aqui, artesanalmente, construir um modo coletivo de resistir aos padrões rígidos da academia, por meio de um fazer cuidadoso, situado, implicado e sensível.

In this article, we intend to present the Pole of Gestaltic Studies, a study group made up of three extension projects, "Gestaltic Laboratory: Contemporary Configurations and Practices", "GAPsi - Psychological Support Groups", "COMtextos: Art and Free Expression in the Gestaltic Approach" and the research project "Versions of Psychic Suffering Built by Young People in Contemporary Times: Articulations between the Actor-Network Theory and the Gestaltic Clinic". Drawing on the metaphor of weaving, we will weave together this space we call the Pole, where each of our doings is represented by a kind of thread, weaving them between teaching, research and extension on a Psychology that is done in the feminine. Supported by Annemarie Mol, Laura Perls, Fritz Perls, Paulo Freire, among others, in addition to our experiences, we propose here to build a collective way of resisting the rigid standards of the academy, from a process careful, situated, implicated and sensitive.

En este artículo, tenemos la intención de presentar el Polo de los Estudios Gestálticos, un grupo de estudio compuesto por tres proyectos de extensión, "Laboratorio Gestáltico: Configuraciones y Prácticas Contemporáneas", "GAPsi - Grupos de Apoyo Psicológico", "COMtextos: Arte y Expresión Libre en el Enfoque de la Gestalt" y el proyecto de investigación "Versiones del Sufrimiento Psíquico Construido por los Jóvenes en los Tiempos Contemporáneos: Articulaciones entre la Teoría del Actor-Red y la Clínica Gestáltica". Basándonos en la metáfora del tejido, tejamos juntos este espacio que llamamos Polo, donde cada uno de nuestros actos está representado por una especie de hilo, entretejiéndolos entre la enseñanza, la investigación y la extensión desde una Psicología que se realiza en lo femenino. Con el apoyo de Annemarie Mol, Laura Perls, Fritz Perls, Paulo Freire, entre otros, además de nuestras experiencias, proponemos aquí construir una forma colectiva de resistir los rígidos estándares de la academia, a través de una acción cuidadosa, situada e implicada y sensible.

Attraction to similar options: The Gestalt law of proximity is related to the attraction effect.

Previous studies have suggested that there are common mechanisms between perceptual and value-based processes. For instance, both perceptual and value-based choices are highly influenced by the context in which the choices are made. However, the mechanisms which allow context to influence our choice process as well as the extent of the similarity between the perceptual and preferential processes are still unclear. In this study, we examine a within-subject relation between the attraction effect, which is a well-known effect of context on preferential choice, and the Gestalt law of proximity. Then, we aim to use this link to better understand the mechanisms underlying the attraction effect. We conducted one study followed by an additional pre-registered replication study, where subjects performed a Gestalt-psychophysical task and a decoy task. Comparing the behavioral sensitivity of each subject in both tasks, we found that the more susceptible a subject is to the proximity law, the more she displayed the attraction effect. These results demonstrate a within-subject relation between a perceptual phenomenon (proximity law) and a value-based bias (attraction effect) which further strengthens the notion of common rules between perceptual and value-based processing. Moreover, this suggests that the mechanism underlying the attraction effect is related to grouping by proximity with attention as a mediator.

Oculometric signature of switch into awareness? Pupil size predicts sudden insight whereas microsaccades predict problem-solving via analysis.

According to the Gestalt theorists, restructuring is an essential component of insight problem-solving, contributes to the "Aha!" experience, and is similar to the perceptual switch experienced when reinterpreting ambiguous figures. Previous research has demonstrated that pupil diameter increases during the perceptual switch of ambiguous figures, and indexes norepeinephrine functioning mediated by the locus coeruleus. In this study, we investigated if pupil diameter similarly predicts the switch into awareness people experience when solving a problem via insight. Additionally, we explored eye movement dynamics during the same task to investigate if the problem-solving strategies used are linked to specific oculomotor behaviors. In 38 participants, pupil diameter increased about 500 msec prior to solution only in trials for which subjects report having an insight. In contrast, participants increased their microsaccade rate only prior to non-insight solutions. Pupil dilation and microsaccades were not reliably related, but both appear to be robust markers of how people solve problems (with or without insight). The pupil size change seen when people have an "Aha!" moment represents an indicator of the switch into awareness of unconscious processes humans depend upon for insight, and suggests important involvement of norepinephrine, via the locus coeruleus, in sudden insight.

O significado de ser pai na atualidade: um estudo na abordagem gestáltica / The meaning of being a father today: a study in the Gestalt approach / El significado de ser padre en la actualidad: un estudio en el enfoque gestáltico

Mudanças nas relações familiares e no panorama socioeconômico mundial levaram a uma revisão das funções do homem e da mulher no exercício da educação dos filhos. Visando conhecer os reflexos dessas mudanças, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal compreender, sob a ótica da abordagem Gestáltica, o significado de ser pai para o homem na atualidade. Participaram do trabalho seis pais de 30 a 40 anos, com filhos de idade entre 2 e 11 anos. Coletaram-se os dados por meio de entrevista semiestruturada e para sua análise utilizou-se do método fenomenológico de Giorgi. Foram encontradas quatro categorias principais: responsabilidade, proximidade e convivência, expressão da afetividade e ser um pai melhor. Notou-se que o pai da atualidade está em processo de transformação, em movimento de maior aproximação dos filhos, buscando uma relação mais afetiva e significativa.

Changes in family relations and in the world socioeconomic panorama have led to a review of the roles of men and women in the exercise of their children's education. Aiming to know the reflexes of these changes, this research had as main objective to understand, from the point of view of the gestaltic approach, the meaning of being a father for man today. Six fathers between 30 and 40 years old, with children between the ages of 2 and 11, participated in the study. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview and for its analysis was used the Giorgi phenomenological method. Four main categories were found: responsibility, closeness and coexistence, expressing affection and being a better father. It was noted that the father of the present is in the process of transformation, in a movement of closer approach of the children, seeking a more affective and meaningful relationship.

Cambios en las relaciones familiares y en el panorama socioeconómico mundial llevaron a una revisión de las funciones del hombre y de la mujer en el ejercicio de la educación de los hijos. Con el fin de conocer los reflejos de estos cambios, esta investigación tuvo como objetivo principal comprender, bajo la óptica del abordaje Gestáltico, el significado de ser padre para el hombre en la actualidad. Participaron del trabajo seis padres de 30 a 40 años, con hijos de edad entre 2 y 11 años. Se recogen los datos por medio de una entrevista semiestructurada y para su análisis se utilizó el método fenomenológico de Giorgi. Fueron encontradas cuatro categorías principales: responsabilidad, proximidad y convivencia, expresión de la afectividad y ser un mejor padre. Se encontró que el padre de la actualidad está en proceso de transformación, en movimiento de mayor aproximación de los hijos, buscando una relación más afectiva y significativa.

Gestalt contact styles in OCD patients: a controlled study

Abstract Background Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a challenging disease in terms of remission rates and treatment approaches. All theoretical approaches are needed for a better understanding. Compared to other theories, it has not been examined sufficiently from the perspective of gestalt theory in the literature. Objective To examine and compare the Gestalt Contact Styles of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and the Control Group and to examine the relationship between Gestalt Contact Styles and OCD symptoms. Methods 50 OCD patients were compared with the healthy control group. All patients were evaluated with the Yale Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), the Padua Inventory (PI), and the Gestalt Contact Styles Scale-Revised Form (GCSS-RF). For the control group, GCSS-RF was applied. Results The scores of the OCD patients for GCSS-RF "Retroflection" and "Deflection" subscales were significantly higher than the Control Group. Statistically significant high scores were found between the subscales of Padua Inventory "contamination obsessions and washing compulsions", "obsessional thoughts", "obsessional impulses" and "checking compulsions" subtypes and Gestalt contact styles in the Patient Group in a symptomatological examined manner. With these findings, in terms of Gestalt Contact Styles, it is seen that the difference between Patient and Control Groups is significantly different. There was no significant relationship between the Yale-Brown total score of the Patient Group and the GCSS-RF subscales. Discussion In conclusion, the findings of the study showed significant differences in terms of Gestalt Contact Styles (Retroflection, Contact, Deflection, Desensitization, Confluence) in Patient and Control Groups and OCD symptoms. These results are important to Gestalt Therapists in terms of shedding light on the therapeutic intervention to be done for an OCD patient and contributing to the literature.

Structure learning and the posterior parietal cortex.

We propose a theory of structure learning in the primate brain. We argue that the parietal cortex is critical for learning about relations among the objects and categories that populate a visual scene. We suggest that current deep learning models exhibit poor global scene understanding because they fail to perform the relational inferences that occur in the primate dorsal stream. We review studies of neural coding in primate posterior parietal cortex (PPC), drawing the conclusion that neurons in this brain area represent potentially high-dimensional inputs on a low-dimensional manifold that encodes the relative position of objects or features in physical space, and relations among entities in abstract conceptual space. We argue that this low-dimensional code supports generalisation of relational information, even in nonspatial domains. Finally, we propose that structure learning is grounded in the actions that primates take when they reach for objects or fixate them with their eyes. We sketch a model of how this might occur in neural circuits.

Embodied gestalts: Unstable visual phenomena become stable when they are stimuli for competitive action selection.

An animal's environment is rich with affordances. Different possible actions are specified by visual information while competing for dominance over neural dynamics. Affordance competition models account for this in terms of winner-takes-all cross-inhibition dynamics. Multistable phenomena also reveal how the visual system deals with ambiguity. Their key property is spontaneous instability, in forms such as alternating dominance in binocular rivalry. Theoretical models of self-inhibition or self-organized instability posit that the instability is tied to some kind of neural adaptation and that its functional significance is to enable flexible perceptual transitions. We hypothesized that the two perspectives are interlinked. Spontaneous instability is an intrinsic property of perceptual systems, but it is revealed when they are stripped from the constraints of possibilities for action. To test this, we compared a multistable gestalt phenomenon against its embodied version and estimated the neural adaptation and competition parameters of an affordance transition dynamic model. Wertheimer's (Zeitschrift fur Psychologie 61, 161-265, 1912) optimal (ß) and pure (φ) forms of apparent motion from a stroboscopic point-light display were endowed with action relevance by embedding the display in a visual object-tracking task. Thus, each mode was complemented by its action, because each perceptual mode uniquely enabled different ways of tracking the target. Perceptual judgment of the traditional apparent motion exhibited spontaneous instabilities, in the form of earlier switching when the frame rate was changed stepwise. In contrast, the embodied version exhibited hysteresis, consistent with affordance transition studies. Consistent with our predictions, the parameter for competition between modes in the affordance transition model increased, and the parameter for self-inhibition vanished.

Behind the face of holistic perception: Holistic processing of Gestalt stimuli and faces recruit overlapping perceptual mechanisms.

Holistic processing, demonstrated by a failure of selective attention to individual parts within stimuli, is often considered a relatively unique feature of the processing of faces and objects of expertise. However, face-like holistic processing has been recently demonstrated for novel line stimuli with salient Gestalt perceptual grouping cues. Further, disrupting such cues within face stimuli disrupts holistic face perception. There is evidence that holistic processing of these gestalt stimuli and faces does not overlap mechanistically in the same way as does the processing of faces and objects of expertise. However, the relationship between these different manifestations of holistic processing is unclear. We developed a task to probe whether a holistic processing-specific overlap occurs at an earlier, perceptual level between the mechanisms supporting processing of faces and strong gestalt stimuli. Faces and gestalt line stimuli were overlaid, and participants made part judgments about either the faces (Experiment 1) or line stimuli (Experiment 2) in a composite task indexing holistic perception. The data revealed evidence of reciprocal interference between holistic processing of line and face stimuli, with indices of holistic processing of face and line stimuli reduced when the overlaid stimuli were also processed holistically (e.g., intact line/face stimuli) compared with when the overlaid stimuli did not commandeer holistic processing resources (e.g., misaligned line/face stimuli). This pattern is consistent with a mechanistic overlap between the holistic perception of faces and gestalt stimuli. Our results support a dual-stimulus-based and experienced-based-pathway model of holistic processing, with face stimuli using both.

Perception and conception in understanding evolutionary trees.

Relationships depicted in evolutionary trees depend solely on levels of most recent common ancestry. Integrating discipline-based education research in biology with perceptual/cognitive psychology, the authors predicted, however, that the Gestalt principles of perceptual grouping would affect how students interpret these relationships. Experiment 1 (N = 93) found that students segment 6-9 branch trees in accordance with the Gestalt principle of connectedness. Experiment 2 (N = 310) found that students in introductory through advanced biology classes predominantly believed, incorrectly, that the evolutionary relationships among a set of target taxa differed in two trees because the grouping of those taxa differed. Experiment 3 (N = 99) found that students from these same classes were more likely to make inferences consistent with the depicted evolutionary relationships when Gestalt grouping supported those inferences. The authors discuss implications for improving students' understanding of cladograms.