<P> The principles of grouping (or Gestalt laws of grouping) are a set of principles in psychology, first proposed by Gestalt psychologists to account for the observation that humans naturally perceive objects as organized patterns and objects, a principle known as Prägnanz . Gestalt psychologists argued that these principles exist because the mind has an innate disposition to perceive patterns in the stimulus based on certain rules . These principles are organized into five categories: Proximity, Similarity, Continuity, Closure, and Connectedness . </P> <P> Irvin Rock and Steve Palmer, who are acknowledged as having built upon the work of Max Wertheimer and others and to have identified additional grouping principles, note that Wertheimer's laws have come to be called the "Gestalt laws of grouping" but state that "perhaps a more appropriate description" is "principles of grouping ." Rock and Palmer helped to further Wertheimer's research to explain human perception of groups of objects and how we perceive parts of objects and form whole objects on the basis of these . </P> <P> The Gestalt law of proximity states that "objects or shapes that are close to one another appear to form groups". Even if the shapes, sizes, and objects are radically different, they will appear as a group if they are close . </P> <Ul> <Li> Refers to the way smaller elements are "assembled" in a composition . </Li> <Li> Also called "grouping," the principle concerns the effect generated when the collective presence of the set of elements becomes more meaningful than their presence as separate elements . </Li> <Li> Arranging words into sentences or titles is an obvious way to group unrelated elements to enhance their meaning (it also depends on a correct order for comprehension). </Li> <Li> Grouping the words also changes the visual and psychological meaning of the composition in non-verbal ways unrelated to their meaning . </Li> <Li> Elements which are grouped together create the illusion of shapes or planes in space, even if the elements are not touching . </Li> <Li> Grouping of this sort can be achieved with tone or value, color, shape, size, or other physical attributes . </Li> </Ul>

The gestalt principle of proximity refers to the idea that