"The law of closure states that individuals perceive objects such as shapes, letters, pictures, etc., as being whole when they are not complete."

"Specifically, when parts of a whole picture are missing, our perception fills in the visual gap. Research shows that the reason the mind completes a regular figure that is not perceived through sensation is to increase the regularity of surrounding stimuli. For example, the figure that depicts the law of closure portrays what we perceive as a circle on the left side of the image and a rectangle on the right side of the image. However, gaps are present in the shapes. If the law of closure did not exist, the image would depict an assortment of different lines with different lengths, rotations, and curvatures—but with the law of closure, we perceptually combine the lines into whole shapes."



From the Wikipedia entry on Gestalt psychology, which I'm reading because I looked up "closure" in the OED and saw that it was a concept in Gestalt psychology. I looked up "closure" in the OED, because I'd just watched an old episode of "Friends" — "The One Where Ross Finds Out" (Season 2, Episode 7 (1995)) — and the word "closure" — a vogue word at the time, I think — was used to great comic effect.



And that's an answer to the question I asked 2 days ago, "What TV sitcom has ever had a character who has been presented and developed with real depth?" I said, "I'm asking the question because I'm starting to watch an old TV series that someone else has said they think has characters that are explored with real depth." The old series is "Friends," and the "someone else" is my son John.