ABSTRACT
One of the fundamental concepts in the Gestalt revolution, and one that deeply influenced and interested Solomon Asch, was the notion of the frame of reference or framework. Although this concept played a central role in Gestalt thinking, it is not as well known as other Gestalt contributions, such as those concerning organization, holism, and prägnanz. Moreover, with respect to the topics to which the Gestaltists most directly related it, namely, the perception of motion and of the upright of space, little use has been made of the concept by subsequent investigators and, if anything, attempts have been made to explain its phenomena in terms of entirely different mechanisms. The occasion of this volume honoring Asch thus provides an opportunity to remind the scientific community of this important concept, to clarify its meaning and to re-examine its application to several topics in perception.
