Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Do Neural Networks Show Gestalt Phenomena? An Exploration of the Law of Closure

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This paper posted to arXiv by some Google researchers shows that neural networks can be studied from the perspective of Gestalt psychology. In particular, the authors show that neural networks demonstrate the law of closure, that is, how "the human visual perception system has a tendency to 'close the gap' in order to perceive whole objects when only fragments are visible." It's based on the old connectionist principle of pattern recognition (see p. 48 of this excellent outline of connectionism). Anyhow, it seems to me that things like this show that as time goes by we are seeing a gradual convergence of psychology, artificial intelligence, and learning theory.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 11:03 a.m.

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