Errors of visual recognition.

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Abstract
The Gestalt postulate of a "memory trace" in human visual recognition was submitted to a further exptl. check on the lines suggested by earlier expts. of Hebb and Foord, and designed to overcome possible methodological criticisms of the Hebb-Foord expt. The subjects were shown particular cards on which were drawn relatively simple geometrical figures. These cards formed part of a set in which one variable was made to vary steadily, e.g., a set of ellipses with steadily increasing eccentricity. Subsequently they were shown the complete set and asked to point to the card that was previously seen. The errors observed showed no statistically significant progressive change whatever in the manner that Gestalt theory predicts. Thus it is suggested that such a principle as Pragnanz, if it is to be retained in psychological theory, needs to be reformulated and its limits redefined.
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