Wertheimer introduced the principles of perceptual organization from the Gestalt school of psychology in an article published in 1923. He argued that we perceive objects in the same way we observe apparent motion, as complete units rather than as groupings of individual sensations. These Gestalt principles represent the fundamental rules by which we organize our perceptual universe.

An underlying premise states that perceptual organization occurs instantly whenever we perceive various patterns or shapes. The small parts of the perceptual field come together to form structures distinct from the originals. Perceptual organization is spontaneous and inevitable whenever we see or hear. Generally, we do not need to learn to form patterns, as associationists claimed, although some higher-level perceptions, like naming objects, depend on learning.

According to Gestalt theory, the brain is a dynamic system in which all active elements interact at a given moment. The visual area of the brain does not respond separately to the individual elements of the visual stimulus, connecting them through a mechanical association process. Instead, similar or close elements tend to combine, while different or distant elements tend not to combine.