Perceptual Closure in Acute Paranoid Schizophrenics

Abstract

The term, "perceptual closure," refers to a tendency to complete what is incompletely presented in the visual field in order that as "good" or complete a figure as possible be perceived. This tendency has been well demonstrated in normal subjects (S's) presented with geometric stimulus forms (Gibson,⁴Hempstead,⁵Tiernan,¹⁵and Siedenfield¹⁰). More recently the term has been expanded such that Drever's definition of closure²refers to an all embracing function "by means of which percepts, memories, actions attain stability." Thurstone, in a factorial analysis of perception¹⁴distinguished 3 usages of the term: "(<i>a</i>) when what appears to be unrelated and unorganized suddenly appears as a meaningfully related whole; (<i>b</i>) when a part of the presented items are suddenly perceived as a unity and the remaining parts are perceptually discarded; and (<i>c</i>) when a good configuration has to be destroyed