Gestalt Learning

Gestalt means whole. We perceive everything as whole not as sum of parts.
The three main Gestalt theorists were Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka.

Kohler's experiment

Wertheimer'PHI phenomenon


he phi phenomenon is a perceptual illusion described by Max Wertheimer in his 1912 Experimental Studies on the Seeing of Motion, in which a disembodied perception of motion is produced by a succession of still images. In discussions of the perception of film and video it is often confused with beta movement, but it is a distinct phenomenon not directly involved in the perception of motion pictures.
The classic phi phenomenon experiment involves a viewer or audience watching a screen, upon which the experimenter projects two images in succession. The first image depicts a line on the left side of the frame. The second image depicts a line on the right side of the frame. The images may be shown quickly, in rapid succession, or each frame may be given several seconds of viewing time. Once both images have been projected, the experimenter asks the viewer or audience to describe what they saw.
At certain combinations of spacing and timing of the two images, a viewer will report a sensation of motion in the space between and around the two lines, even though the viewer also perceives two distinct lines and not the continuous motion of objects referred to as Beta movement. The phi phenomenon looks like a moving zone or cloud of background color surrounding the flashing objects. The discovery of the phi phenomenon was a significant milestone in Gestalt psychology.


In the phi phenomenon, a succession of still images with an omission gives the illusion of movement. The phi phenomenon always takes the background color.[1] In this Lilac chaser illusion, the omitted space appears to be filled with a green circle when viewed long enough.

Koffka's ideation learning


A "Gestalt" is an integrated whole system with it's parts enmeshed. The whole is greater than just the sum of the parts.

The "PHI" phenomenon described a characteristic of things wherein they have a recognizability inherent in their nature. Examples include the recognizability of a melody, no matter how it is arranged or what instrument plays it, or the recognizability of a letter rendered in a wide variety of different fonts or type styles. Other examples include the apparent motion created by a rapid sequence of stills in motion pictures, and the sequences of illminating elements in neon signs which give the illusion of movement. Visual and auditory examples are numerous. This phenomenon leads to the conclusion that elements sensed are not the only reality.

"Phenomenology" is the acceptance of first hand experience as it is found in human consciousness.

Gestalt Learning Theory proposed several laws of organization, which are innate ways that human beings organized perceptions. A gestalt factor is a condition that aids in perceiving situations as a whole or totality. Isomorphism refers to the Doctrine of Psychophysical parallelism and depicts the cerebral cortex as "mapping these gestalt fields of stimuli.

The Factor of Closure suggests that perception tends to complete incomplete objects. When only part of an image, sound, thought or feeling is presented as a stimulus, the brain attempts to complete it to generate the whole.

The Factor of Proximity suggests that when elements are grouped closely together, they are percieved as wholes. This has relevance in reading, visual arts, and music.

The Factor of Similarity proposes that like parts tend to be grouped together in cognition. This has implications for instruction, suggesting that learning is facilitated if similar ideas are treated and linked together and then contrasted with opposing or complementary sets of ideas.

The Figure-Ground Effect suggests that the eye tends to see the objects, rather than the spaces or holes between them.