The law of common fate is a Gestalt psychology principle holding that visual elements which move in the same direction, or appear to travel along the same smooth path, are perceptually grouped together as a single unit distinct from other elements moving differently, even if those elements are not close together or similar in appearance. The principle explains how a viewer can immediately pick out a coherent moving group, such as a flock of birds or a cluster of dots on a screen, from a more complex visual field simply on the basis of shared direction of motion.
Facts
Core ClaimWertheimer 1923 account holds that elements undergoing the same movement together are perceived as one unified group distinct from elements moving differently, an effect he called the Factor of Uniform Destiny or Common Fate. 1 First Described Year Sources
1. Laws of Organization in Perceptual Forms (Wertheimer, 1923)
Max Wertheimer, Classics in the History of Psychology (York University), 1923section on shifted-dot demonstrations naming the common-fate principle
The principle involved here may be designated The Factor of Uniform Destiny (or of "Common Fate").
publication note beneath the Max Wertheimer (1923) title heading
First published as Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt II, in Psycologische Forschung, 4, 301-350.
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