method
active
method:subsymmetries-experimentSubsymmetries Experiment
Experimental method using 35 black-and-white strips of 7 squares each (3 black, 4 white) with multiple cognitive tasks (description, memorization, tachistoscopic recognition, subjective simplicity rating) to measure perceived coherence and correlate it with number of local symmetries
Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count
Thinkers (1)
thinker
- Christopher Alexanderintroduces
Findings (3)
finding
- Number of local symmetries correlates almost perfectly with perceived cognitive coherence across 35 strip patternsassociated_withThe key experimental finding: the number of subsymmetries (locally symmetrical connected segments) in a pattern predicts its perceived coherence; most coherent strips have 9 subsymmetries, least coherent have 5; the measure correlates almost perfectly with combined experimental rank order
- Finding that relative coherence rankings remain constant across different people and across different cognitive processing tasks (description, memorization, tachistoscopic recognition), establishing coherence as an objective feature of cognitive processing
- Weighted symmetry measure (by segment length) correlates less well with coherence than unweighted local symmetry countassociated_withFinding that giving extra points to longer symmetrical segments reduces correlation with experimentally measured coherence, showing large symmetries contribute little extra; what matters more is the number of smaller local symmetries
Chapters (1)
chapter
- The chapter that catalogs and analyzes the fifteen recurrent geometric properties found in systems that have life, connecting them to the deeper theory of centers and wholeness
Related by similarity (8)
cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edgeEntities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.
- Functional role of SOHMs, detecting symmetries in input to compress information.
- The property that living wholes contain many interlocking and overlapping local symmetries rather than overall symmetry; local symmetries act as glue holding space together, and their number predicts cognitive coherence
- A hierarchy of approximate symmetries that is balanced, comfortable, and characteristic of life; the specific balance that distinguishes living from dead structure.
- Empirical validation of the theory of centers in architecture.
- A structure-preserving transformation: introducing symmetries within a center, not globally, to strengthen local order.
- Asks what underlying reality causes the consistent choices.