ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a specific approach to visual form—the structural information theory or, briefly, SIT. In fact, this theory is on pattern structure, irrespective of whether this structure is visual. However, historically, SIT was developed in connection with visual perception research at the Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information (NICI). It was initialized by Leeuwenberg (1969) and elaborated on by various other researchers. Some attended to experimental evidence (Boselie & Leeuwenberg, 1986; Geissler, Klix, & Scheidereiter, 1978; Mens & Leeuwenberg, 1988; Restle, 1982; van Leeuwen, Buffart, & van der Vegt, 1988; van Lier, Leeuwenberg, & van der Helm, 1997; van Tuyl & Leeuwenberg, 1979), while others focused on theoretical issues (Buffart, Leeuwenberg, & Restle, 1983; Collard & Buffart, 1983; van der Helm & Leeuwenberg, 1991; van Lier, van der Helm, & Leeuwenberg, 1994).
