Abstract
In a paper of some years ago,1 I argued about the usefulness of thinking of events in terms of forms. As a student of perception in visual and auditory domains, I referred to those minute facts that are perceptual events, like stroboscopic movements, short melodies, and so on. The conceptual tool I am accustomed to use is Gestalttheorie,and my operational method is experimental phenomenology.2 This tool and method seem well able to provide a reasonable account of the way of appearance (Erscheinungsweise) of objects (events) in the behavioural world, in the sense of the famous question asked by Koffka: “Why do things [events] look as they do”?3 In this paper I shall examine the matter more closely, pointing out some aspects that are relevant to current psychological enquiry into subjective time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aristotle: 1983, Physica, It. trans. by A. Russo, Bari, Laterza.
Bach, E.: 1986, The Algebra of Events’, Linguistics and Philosophy, 9, 5–16.
Beck, J., Elsner, A. and Silverstein, C.: 1977, ‘n Uncertainty and the Perception of Apparent Movement’, Perception & Psychophysics, 21, 33–38.
Benussi, V.: 1907, ‘Zur experimentelle Analyse der Zeitvergleichs, I: Zeitgrosse und Betonungsgestalt’, Archiv für die gesamte Psychologie, 9, 366–449.
Benussi, V.: 1913, Psychologie der Zeitauffassung. Heidelberg, Winter.
Block, R.A., ed.: 1990, Cognitive Models of Psychological Time. Hillsdale, N.J., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Boehm, R., ed.: 1966, ‘Edmund Husserl: Zur Phänomenologie des inneren Zeitbewußtsein’, Husserliana. X. The Hague, Nijhoff.
Bozzi, P. and Vicario, G.: 1960, Due Fattori di Unificazione fra Note Musicali: La Vicinanza Temporale e la Vicinanza Tonale’, Rivista di Psicologia. 54. 235–58.
Braddick, O.: 1974, ‘A Short-Range Process in Apparent Motion’, Vision research. 14. 519–27.
Bregman, A. S. and Campbell, J.: 1971, ‘Primary Auditory Stream Segregation and Perception of Order in Rapid Sequences of Tones’, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 89, 244–249.
Burke, L.: 1962, ‘On the Tunnel Effect’, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 4, 121–138.
Cutting, E.: 1981, ‘Six Tenets for Event Perception,’ Cognition, 10, 71–78.
Carlson, L.: 1981, ‘Aspect and Quantification’, Syntax and Semantics, 14.
Davidson, D.: 1980, Essays on Actions and Events. New York, Oxford University Press. Fraisse, P.: 1967, Psychologie du Temps. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France.
Fraisse, P.: 1984, ‘Perception and Estimation of Time’, Annual Review of Psychology, 35, 1–36.
Fraser, J.T.: 1987, Time. The Familiar Stranger. Amherst, The University of Massachusetts Press.
Gibson, J.J.: 1975, ‘Events are Perceivable but Time is Not’, in J.T. Fraser and N. Lawrence, eds. The Study of Time, II. Berlin, Springer, 295–301.
Gibson, J.J.: 1979, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. Hubbard, T.L. and Bharucha, J.J.: 1988, ‘Judged Displacement in Apparent Vertical and Horizontal Motion’, Perception and Psychophysics, 44, 211–221.
Ingarden, R.: 1935, ‘Vom formalen Aufbau des individuellen Gegenstandes’, Studia Philosophica, 1, 29–106.
Johansson, G.: 1978, ‘Visual Event Perception’, in R. Held, H.W. Leibowitz and H.-L. Teuber, Perception (Handbook of Sensory Physiology. vol. VIII ). Berlin, Springer, 675–711.
Kanizsa, G.: 1984, ‘Vedere e Pensare’, Ricerche di Psicologia, 8, 7–42.
Kanizsa, G. and Vicario, G.: 1968, ‘La Percezione della Reazione Intenzionale’ in G. Kanizsa and G. Vicario, eds., Ricerche Sperimentali Sulla Percezione. Trieste, University of Trieste, 71–126. Koffka, K.: 1962, Principles of Gestalt Psychology. London, Routledge & Kegan.
Köhler, W.: 1929, Gestalt Psychology. New York, Liveright.
Kotarbinski, T.: 1955, ‘The Fundamental Ideas of Pansomatism’, Mind, 64, 488–500.
Kraus, 0.: 1930, ‘Zur Phänomenognosie des Zeitbewußtsein’, Archiv für die gesamte Psychologie, 75, 1–22.
Ladefoged, P. and Broadbent, D.E.: 1960, ‘Perception of Sequence in Auditory Events’, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 162–170.
Levelt, W.J.M.: 1962, ‘Motion Braking and the Perception of Causality’, in A. Michotte et al., eds., Causalité, Permanence et réalité phénoménales. Paris, Béatrice-Nauwelaerts, 244–258.
Lewin, K.: 1936, Principles of Topological Psychology. New York, McGraw-Hill.
Lotze, H., 1879, Metaphysik. Drei Bücher der Ontologie, Kosmologie und Psychologie.
Leipzig. Meinong, A., 1899, ‘Über Gegenstände höherer Ordnung und deren Verhältnis zur inneren Wahrnehmung’, Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane, 24, 182–272.
Metelli, F.: 1974, ‘The Perception of Transparency’, Scientific American, 230, IV, 90–98.
Metzger, W.: 1941, Psychologie. Darmstadt, Steinkopff.
Metzger, W.: 1966, ‘Figural-Wahrnehmung’, in W. Metzger, ed., Wahrnehmung und Bewußtsein (Handbuch der Psychologie. I, 1 ). Göttingen, Hogrefe.
Metzger, W.: 1975, Gesetze des Sehens. Frankfurt a. M., Kramer.
Michon, J.A. and Jackson, J.L., eds.: 1985, Time, Mind, and Behavior. Berlin, Springer.
Michotte, A.: 1950, ‘A Propos de la Permanence Phénoménale: Faits et Théories’, Acta Psychologica, 7, 298–322.
Minguzzi, G.F.: 1961, ‘Caratteri Espressivi ed Intenzionali dei Movimenti: La Percezione dell’Attesa’, Rivista di Psicologia, 55, 157–173.
Minguzzi, G.F.: 1968, ‘Sulla Validità della Distinzione fra Percezione di Nessi Causali e Percezione di Nessi Funzionali’, in G. Kanizsa and G. Vicario, eds., Ricerche sperimentali sulla percezione. Trieste, University of Trieste, 161–196.
Nicolis, G. and Prigogine, I.: 1987, Exploring Complexity. An Introduction. München, Piper. Patterson, R.: 1990, ‘Perceptual Moments Models Revisited’, in R.A. Block, ed., Cognitive Models of Psychological Time. Hillsdale, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 85–100.
Quine, W.V.O.: 1960, Word and Object. Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press.
Rubin, E.: 1949, Experimenta Psychologica. Copenhagen, Munksgaard.
Sanford, E.C., 1888, ‘Personal Equation’, I. American Journal of Psychology, 2.
Schaltenbrand, G.: 1975, ‘Cyclic States as Biological Space-Time Fields’, in J.T. Fraser and N. Lawrence, eds., The Study of Time II. Berlin, Springer, 54–68.
Schiller, P. von, 1933, ‘Stroboskopische Alternativversuche’, Psychologische Forschung, 17, 180–214.
Smith, B. and Casati, R.: 1994, ‘Naive Physics: An Essay in Ontology’, Philosophical Psychology, 7, 227–247.
Stern, W., 1897, Psychische Präsenzzeit, Zeitschr /i für Psychologie and Physiologie der Sinnesorgane, 13, 325–349.
Stroud, J.M.: 1955, ‘The Fine Structure of Psychological Time’, in H. Quastler, ed., Information Theory in Psychology. Glencoe, Illinois, Free Press.
Thinès, G.: 1977, Phenomenology and the Science of Behaviour. London, Allen & Unwin.
Thins, G.: 1991, ‘The Experimental Phenomenology of Albert Michotte’, in G. Thinès, A., Costall and G. Butterworth, eds., Michotte’s Experimental Phenomenology of Perception. Hillsdale, N.J., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 13–21.
Tomat, L. and Vicario, G.B.: 1992, ‘Analisi Quantitativa di un Caso di Confronto Successivo di Lunghezze’, Contributi dei Dipartimenti e degli Istituti italiani di Psicologia, 5, 97–122.
Uttal, W.R.: 1990, ‘On Some Two-Way Barriers Between Models and Mechanisms’, Perception and Psychophyics, 48, 188–203.
Vicario, G.: 1963, “La Dislocazione Temporale” nella Percezione di Successions di Stimoli Discreti’, Rivista di Psicologia, 57, 17–87.
Vicario, G.: 1964a, ‘Analisi Sperimentale di un Caso di Movimento Apparente’, Rivista di Psicologia, 58, 133–189.
Vicario, G., 1964b, ‘La Microstruttura del Tempo Psicologico’, Rivista di Psicologia, 58, 193–241.
Vicario, G.: 1965, ‘Vicinanza Spaziale e Vicinanza Temporale nella Segregazione degli Eventi’, Rivista di Psicologia, 59, 843–863.
Vicario, G.: 1969, To Spazio-Tempo Percettivo’, Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università di Trieste 4, Trieste, Tipografia Moderna, 3–71.
Vicario, G.: 1972, Psicofisica e Psicologia del Tempo’, Rivista di Psicologia, 66, 19–33. Vicario, G.: 1973a, Tempo Psicologico ed Eventi. Florence, Giunti-Barbèra.
Vicario, G.: 1973b, ‘Errore dello Stimolo e Psicologia del Tempo’, Archivio di Psicologia, Neurologia e Psichiatria, 34, 243–275
Vicario, G.B.: 1986, ‘Forma ed Eventi’ in O. Longo, ed., Forma, Rappresentazione e Struttura. Naples, Laboratorio Servizio Tecnologia, 115–129.
Vicario, G.B.: 1993, ‘On Experimental Phenomenology’, in S.C. Masin, ed., Foundations of Perceptual Theory. Amsterdam, North-Holland, 197–219.
Vicario, G.B.: 1993, ‘Considerazioni di Metodo nello Studio della Percezione Degli Eventi’, Ricerche di Psicologia, 17, 105–120.
Vicario, G.B. and Tomat, L.: 1992, ‘Analisi Quantitativa di un Caso di Confronto Successivo di
Lunghezze’, Contributi dei Dipartimenti e degli Istituti italiani di Psicologia, 5, 15–27.
Vicario, G.B., Vidotto, G. and Tomat, L.: 1994a, ‘Valutazione della Lunghezza di Linee Esposte
Stabilmente o in Evoluzione: Dati e Problemi’, Ricerche di Psicologia, 18, 81–100.
Vicario, G.B., Vidotto, G. and Tomat, L.: 1994b, ‘L’Errore Spaziale e L’Errore Temporale in Eventi Stazionari e Non Stazionari’, Ricerche di Psicologia, 18, 101–118.
Wertheimer, M.: 1923, ‘Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt’, II. Psychologische Forschung, 4, 301–350.
Wertheimer, M.: 1925, ‘Ober Gestalttheorie’, Symposion, 1, 1–24.
Wundt, W., 1893, Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie. Leipzig.
Yela, M.: 1954, ‘La Nature du ‘Rayon d’Action’ dans L’Impression de Causalité Mécanique’, Journal de Psychologie normale et pathologique, 47–51, 330–348.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vicario, G.B. (1999). Forms and Events. In: Albertazzi, L. (eds) Shapes of Forms. Synthese Library, vol 275. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2990-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2990-1_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5098-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2990-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive