<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><italic>Prägnanz</italic> was suggested by Max Wertheimer in the 1920s as subsuming all “Laws of Gestalt” as they apply to visual awareness. Thus, it assumes a prominent position in any account of Gestalt phenomena. From a phenomenological perspective, some visual stimuli evidently “have more <italic>Prägnanz</italic>” than others, so <italic>Prägnanz</italic> seems to be an <italic>intensive quality</italic>. Here, we investigate the intricacies that need to be faced on the way to a definition of formal scales. Such measures naturally depend both upon the stimulus and upon the observer. Structural complexity bottlenecks of visual systems play a role, as well as the relevance to biological fitness, that is the affinity to the optical user interface. This positions the notion of <italic>Prägnanz</italic> squarely within the realm of biology. Indeed, the familiar “releasers” of ethology are singular cases of extremely high <italic>Prägnanz</italic>.</p></abstract>

Prägnanz was suggested by Max Wertheimer in the 1920s as subsuming all “Laws of Gestalt” as they apply to visual awareness. Thus, it assumes a prominent position in any account of Gestalt phenomena. From a phenomenological perspective, some visual stimuli evidently “have more Prägnanz” than others, so Prägnanz seems to be an intensive quality. Here, we investigate the intricacies that need to be faced on the way to a definition of formal scales. Such measures naturally depend both upon the stimulus and upon the observer. Structural complexity bottlenecks of visual systems play a role, as well as the relevance to biological fitness, that is the affinity to the optical user interface. This positions the notion of Prägnanz squarely within the realm of biology. Indeed, the familiar “releasers” of ethology are singular cases of extremely high Prägnanz.

Measures of <italic>Prägnanz?</italic>

Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Psychologische Functieleer

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Gestalt Theory

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":{"italic":"Prägnanz?","content":"Measures of"}}

Prägnanz was suggested by Max Wertheimer in the 1920s as subsuming all “Laws of Gestalt” as they apply to visual awareness. Thus, it assumes a prominent...

Measures of Prägnanz?

Published Online: Apr 11, 2018

Page range: 7 - 28

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2018-0002

Keywords
Prägnanz, structural complexity, affordance, good Gestalt, simplicity

© 2018 Jan Koenderink et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Measures of Prägnanz?

Published Online: Apr 11, 2018

Page range: 7 - 28

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2018-0002

KeywordsPrägnanz, structural complexity, affordance, good Gestalt, simplicity

© 2018 Jan Koenderink et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Prägnanz, structural complexity, affordance, good Gestalt, simplicity