ABSTRACT
The human visual system is faced with a staggering amount of information impinging on our retinae. Given the limited resources available at our disposal, relevant parts of this information need to be selectively filtered and organized into meaningful units. Gestaltists emphasized the roles of three major processes in achieving these tasks: attitude, attention and grouping. They defined attitude as a force that provides directedness to perception, such as the expectation of a particular organization or outcome (Koffka, 1935). Attention was defined as a special type of attitude representing an unspecific directedness, i.e. without a specific expectation of a particular organization or outcome, towards an object. Finally, grouping was defined as the organization of the input into unitary forms.
