Definition

Noun: 1. A Gestalt principle of perception: "Good continuation" is a principle stating that elements arranged in a straight or smoothly curving line are perceived as belonging together and as a single, continuous unit, rather than as separate, disconnected parts. The mind prefers to see lines and patterns as continuing along their established path.

Usage

• In Psychology and Design: The term is used primarily in the fields of visual perception, psychology, and design to explain how humans organize visual information.
  • The designer used the principle of good continuation to guide the viewer's eye across the page.
  • Even when partially obscured, we perceive the rope as a single line due to good continuation.

Advanced Usage

• As a perceptual law: It is one of several "Gestalt laws of grouping" that describe how the human brain naturally structures sensory input.
  • The law of good continuation explains why we see the two crossing lines as an 'X' instead of two 'V' shapes touching at their points.

Variants and Related Words

• Continuation (n): The act of continuing or the state of being continued.
  • The continuation of the road was blocked by a fallen tree.
• Law of Continuity: Another name for the principle of good continuation.

Synonyms

• Law of Continuity
• Principle of Continuity

Related Concepts (Not Phrasal Verbs or Idioms)

• Gestalt Psychology: The school of thought that emphasizes the brain's tendency to perceive whole patterns.
• Figure-Ground: Another Gestalt principle concerning the separation of an object (figure) from its background (ground).
• Closure: The tendency to perceive incomplete figures as complete.
• Proximity: The tendency to group elements that are close to each other.

Noun

1. a Gestalt principle of organization holding that there is an innate tendency to perceive a line as continuing its established direction