Gestalt

Abstract

Gestalt has been a key element of conceptualization and presentation in arts, media, and design and a therapeutic approach in psychology. As a concept, it is strongly related to the investigation of sensory perception and has been predominantly explored by psychologists and neurophysiologists. The first systematic effort to describe Gestalt (meaning shape, form, figure, and configuration in German language) is attributed to Max Wertheimer and his paper Gestalt Theory and Principles of Perceptual Organization (1912) (Sarris, 2012), where he elaborated on his previous findings regarding apparent motion (AM), a “particular type of visual ‘illusion’ in which the phenomenon of seen motion is generated by two stationary stimuli, as contrasted with real motion (RM)” (Sarris, 2012, p. 93).