The site particles | physics simulation utilizes a structuralist theory of perception. Three manipulable factors are displayed on the console: friction, attraction, and repulsion. Since these three elements are each independent of the other two, and not controlled in a holistic manner. Gestalt Theory helps us perceive groups of objects (Sternberg 126-128). These simulated particles are related in figure-ground (the particles share a visual space), proximity (the objects are in a group, and their proximity fluctuates based on the elements in the console), similarity (except for color, which helps us track the individual particles), continuity (balls as geometric objects are not disrupted or discontinuous), and symmetry (balls are symmetrical). The Gestalt principle of closure does not necessarily apply because each simulated particle is complete in itself.
Digital simulation aids human perception of elements too small to physically manipulate may be partially explained by Ronald Finke’s principles of visual imagery (Sternberg, 244):
1. “our mental movements across images correspond to similar transformations of and movements across physical objects…”
2. “The spatial relations among elements of a visual image are analagous to those relations in actual physical space”
4. “the construction of mental images is analagous to the construction of visually perceptible”
5. “visual imagery is functionally equivalent to visual perception in terms of the process of the visual system used for each.”
Principle 3, dealing with the use of mental images generating information not stored during encoding does not appy to this website. If a user decides to project the future path of a single particle, based on the settings in the console, then a mental image would be generating information not stored in the initial encoding.
Tags: cognition, gestalt, manipulation, perception, simulation, visualisation, visualization
