Continuation , or continuity. Perceptions tend toward simplicity and continuity. It is easier to visualize a wavy line on a squared-off line than it is to see a complex row of shapes. Closure refers to the tendency to complete a figure, so that it has a consistent overall form. Nearness in time and space.
Contiguity is often responsible for the perception that one thing has caused another.
In addition to these principles, Learning and past experience greatly affect perceptual organization . One can have an immediate recognition of letters and not be able to read handwriting. Camouflage patterns break up figure-ground organization. In a way we are all detectives, seeking patterns in what we see. In this sense a meaningful pattern represents a perceptual hypothesis , or guess held until the evidence contradicts it.