Cognitive Psychology Principles
📋 What it is
The brain organises what it sees using rules — grouping, closure, figure-ground — to make instant sense of scenes.
🗣️ Coach says
Your brain follows organising RULES (studied as "Gestalt" principles) to instantly make sense of a scene: it GROUPS similar or nearby things, fills gaps to see whole shapes (closure), and separates a "figure" from its background. These rules usually work brilliantly — and illusions are where they can be turned against us.
🧠 Memory hook
Brain organises by rules: group similar/near things · close gaps into whole shapes · figure vs background.
😂 Giggle
Why was the impossible triangle so popular?
Because no matter which angle you took, it always made the cut!
😲 Whoa!
Your brain automatically sees a "triangle" in three notched circles arranged just so — even though there’s no triangle drawn at all; it fills in edges that aren’t there.
✅ Quick check: What does the brain rule of "closure" do?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
It fills in gaps to perceive a complete shape, even when parts are missing.
Closure completes incomplete shapes into wholes.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Look at a dashed-outline shape — notice your brain "closes" it into a solid figure automatically.