From Gibson’s Fire to Gestalts: A bridge-building theory of perceptual objecthood

Two kinds of rifts separate perceptual researchers: theoretical and modality-specific. Theoretical rifts divide modality-specific communities, and modality-specific rifts divide theoretical communities. Each group seeks to understand perception, but each uses such different approaches that synthesis into one coherent theory has been impossible. Here, we examine the fissures and propose a theory of perceptual objecthood that closes them. Neuhoff (Chapter 1) discusses theoretical rifts in audition. He distinguishes the constructivist psychoacousticians, who use simple stimuli and well-controlled artificial environments to explore lower-level sensory processes, from the ecologists, who use real-world stimuli and less controlled environments to explore higher-level sensation, cognition, and behavior. Both groups have learned a great deal about auditory perception, but the lack of a unified framework makes it difficult for them to share their knowledge. The gap between types of modality specificity is even wider. Most researchers work within a modality-specific community which has its own theories and terminology. Gibson (1966) illustrated this problem with his description of a fire,