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Gestalt: prägnanz 0:35
A 35-second explainer of Gestalt: prägnanz, narrated over the same demo you can try yourself.
Try the interactive Gestalt: prägnanz demo
What this video covers
Prägnanz - the law of good figure - means the mind naturally prefers the simplest, most stable interpretation of what it sees. When faced with ambiguity, you perceive the cleanest version: a few whole shapes rather than many odd ones. You can see this principle in action on this page.
You saw two overlapping circles, not the three separate odd-shaped regions the same drawing could just as truthfully be. The simpler reading wins on its own, because that is the one the mind is built to reach for.
