The question of whether perception is analytic or wholistic is an enduring issue in psychology. The global-precedence hypothesis, considered by many as a modern version of the Gestaltist claim about the perceptual primacy of wholes, has generated a large body of research, but the debate still remains very active. This article reviews the research within the global/local paradigm, and critically analyzes the assumptions underlying this paradigm. The extent to which this line of research contributes to understanding the role of wholistic processing in object perception is discussed. It is concluded that one should be very cautious in making inferences about wholistic processing from the processing advantage of the global level of stimulus structure. A distinction is proposed between global properties, defined by their position in the hierarchical structure of the stimulus, and wholistic properties, defined as a function of interrelations among component parts. It is suggested that a direct comparison between processing of wholistic and component properties is needed to support the hypothesis about the perceptual primacy of wholistic processing.

Perceived organization of hierarchically constructed patterns was investigated through similarity judgments and a verbal description task. The number of elements and their sizes relative to the configuration were varied in a series of five experiments. The results show that in patterns composed of a few relatively large elements, the elements are perceived as individual parts of the overall form and are perceptually salient. Increasing the number of elements and/or decreasing their size results in a perceived unified form associated with texture, representing the structural properties of the elements as a group. In the latter case, the perceptual salience of the individual element decreases and the global form (or sometimes the texture) dominates perception. These findings suggest that the perceptual levels arising from global configuration of local elements may not correspond directly to these two geometrical levels in the stimulus domain as much previous work on "global versus local" processing has assumed. Rather, the mapping of the two independent geometrical levels into meaningful perceptual levels depends critically on the number and relative size of the elements, thus changing the perceived organization of the whole pattern.

Our first review paper on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of Gestalt psychology focused on perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization. It concluded that further progress requires a reconsideration of the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the Gestalt approach, which is provided here. In particular, we review contemporary formulations of holism within an information-processing framework, allowing for operational definitions (e.g., integral dimensions, emergent features, configural superiority, global precedence, primacy of holistic/configural properties) and a refined understanding of its psychological implications (e.g., at the level of attention, perception, and decision). We also review four lines of theoretical progress regarding the law of Prägnanz—the brain’s tendency of being attracted towards states corresponding to the simplest possible organization, given the available stimulation. The first considers the brain as a complex adaptive system and explains how self-organization solves the conundrum of trading between robustness and flexibility of perceptual states. The second specifies the economy principle in terms of optimization of neural resources, showing that elementary sensors working independently to minimize uncertainty can respond optimally at the system level. The third considers how Gestalt percepts (e.g., groups, objects) are optimal given the available stimulation, with optimality specified in Bayesian terms. Fourth, Structural Information Theory explains how a Gestaltist visual system that focuses on internal coding efficiency yields external veridicality as a side-effect. To answer the fundamental question of why things look as they do, a further synthesis of these complementary perspectives is required.

The principle of uniform connectedness (S. E. Palmer & I. Rock, 1994) states that connected regions of uniform visual properties correspond to the entry-level units of visual stimuli. The implications of this principle for the perceptual organization of hierarchical patterns were investigated in 3 experiments. Primed matching and visual search were used to examine the microgenesis of organization for patterns that vary in number and relative size of their elements. Results for the few-element patterns showed an initial representation of elements with a weaker representation of global configuration. Grouping of elements into global configuration consolidated with time and involved focused attention. The entry-level units of many-element patterns were global configuration and texture. Individuation of elements occurred later and involved focused attention. These findings are discussed with reference to processes underlying perceptual organization.

The authors studied 2 patients, S.M. and R.N., to examine perceptual organization and its relationship to object recognition. Both patients had normal, low-level vision and performed simple grouping operations normally but were unable to apprehend a multielement stimulus as a whole. R.N. failed to derive global structure even under optimal stimulus conditions, was less sensitive to grouping by closure, and was more impaired in object recognition than S.M. These findings suggest that perceptual organization involves a multiplicity of processes, some of which are simpler and are instantiated in lower order areas of visual cortex (e.g., collinearity). Other processes are more complex and rely on higher order visual areas (e.g., closure and shape formation). The failure to exploit these latter configural processes adversely affects object recognition. to the patients for their good-hearted and continued involvement in these experiments.