The phenomenology of autonomous order formation in perception
pp. 186-200
in: Hermann Haken, Michael Stadler (eds), Synergetics of cognition, Berlin, Springer, 1990Abstract
In self-organization of perceptual field there is no tendency to Prägnanz, in the sense of singularity (at least, not at the level of what we define as primary process), but a lawful tendency to stability. The most stable situation is the one characterized by the maximum equilibrium between tensions generated by factors of figural organization. Stability materializes through the selforganization of the field, with the interaction of its components. Such self-organization is global, but the effects are locally different in intensity, and are stronger the nearer the interacting elements.