You encounter four battery-powered toys moving in a small corral. Each toy is a made up of multiple parts: a car in which four figures are riding. All the parts for each toy are the same color, and each toy has its own distinct color. One toy is pink, one is blue, one is green, and one is red. Use gestalt laws of perceptual grouping to explain how your brain recognizes the figures that make each toy as a distinct whole.

What will be an ideal response?

The law of proximity, the law of similarity, and the law of common fate would all help me identify the figures in a single car as comprising a distinct whole. For example, when I look at the pink car, I perceive that all the pieces are the same color. According to the law of similarity, elements that are similar to one another are more likely to be perceived as part of a unified group. Additionally, the pink pieces all move together. The law of common fate states that elements that move together tend to be perceived as a unified group. Finally, the pink pieces are all close together. The law of proximity states that elements that are close together tend to be perceived as a unified group.