A theory of information structure. II. A theory of perceptual organization (Q1080804)

A theory of perceptual organization is offered that accords with the description postulate presented in Part I [author's PhD thesis, Univ. of California, Berkeley (1984)], i.e., the theory claims that perceptual organization is defined by the input group of a machine which has a decomposition sequence prescribed by an algebraic stability ordering. An extensive analysis of the decomposition sequence appears to explain and predict a number of organizational phenomena: For example, the analysis appears to show (1) that the group sequence is divided at some point along it into two components, one determining the internal relational structure of a form and the other determining the form's extrinsic structure; (2) that the interaction between the internal and external aspects of a form is defined by a specific product operation at this point in the group sequence; (3) that a rigorous theory of grouping can be obtained by the analysis of certain subsequences within the internal sequence; (4) that the perceived hierarchical structure of a form is determined by the ordering on those subgroup subsequences; (5) that perceptual cartesian reference frames are also group sequences which conform to the description postulate; (6) that the impression of the imposition of a cartesian reference frame, on a form, is determined by subsequences of the group decomposition sequence of the form.