Form perception is the ability of the human mind and senses to perceive the shapes of physical objects and outlines observed in the environment. It is a complex mental process studied in neurology

Neurology

Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...

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Development

Form perception is one of the most basic visual discriminations acquired by humans in childhood. A child with poor form perception is highly likely to be diagnosed with a learning disability

Learning disability

Learning disability is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors...

, since almost all learning activities require some type of form perception, most importantly the ability to read. A child who has trouble perceiving the form of the letters, syllables or words, will have difficulties in learning the alphabet or in learning to read. The discrimination of letters is the most important skill in the early stages of reading.

Synonyms

• Object perception
• Perceptual grouping
• Surface perception
• Figure-ground perception

Resources

• What Is Form Perception?
• Gestalt principles of form perception
• Form Perception, Stephen Grossberg, Department for Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University
• Visual form perception, Peter U. Tse and Howard C. Hughes, Dartmouth University
• Vision: Form Perception, Donlad D Hoffman and Manish Singh, University of California - Irvine