Stories by Irvin Rock

Since its inception early in this century, Gestalt theory has made significant contributions to the study of perception, learning and social psychology. These contributions remain influential today

A figure revealed one section at a time through a narrow slit may be perceived in its entirety. Is this effect based on the painting of the image over the retina or on deeper psychological events?

Many familiar things do not look the same when their orientation is changed. The reason appears to be that the perception of form embodies the automatic assignment of a top, a bottom and sides

It has been held that human beings must learn how to see, and that they are taught by the sense of touch. New experiments demonstrate, however, that vision completely dominates touch and even shapes it

When the moon is near the horizon, it looks at the zenith. Is this because the observer bigger than when it is raises his eyes to see the zenith moon or because he views the horizon moon over terrain?

Is drill necessary in rote learning? The author's experiments indicate that we form mental associations instantly. The role of repetition is to help us retain what we have already learned