Practice question · Multiple choice
Two lamps flash in alternation at the right interval and an observer sees a single lamp moving back and forth. Nothing moves, and no single flash contains any motion. Why did Wertheimer treat this as evidence against building perception up from elementary sensations?
Hints
- Ask where in the display the motion is located. Which flash contains it?
- The structuralist method was to decompose an experience into parts. Try that here.
Show the answer
A. Because the motion is in the relationship, not in any flash alone.
Why
Take the display apart and you have two stationary flashes with no trace of motion in either; the experience is a property of the arrangement, so decomposition does not miss it but eliminates it. 'Greater than the sum' slightly misreads the claim, organisation is a different kind of thing from the elements, not an extra element added on top.
Practise Gestalt Psychology
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