ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Max Wertheimer

Max Wertheimer was a very smart man who lived a long time ago. He was interested in how our brains can see and understand things.

Imagine you have a toy truck with wheels. You know that the truck can move because it has wheels. But what if the wheels were taken away and set a little apart? Would the truck still move? It might be harder to imagine, but Max Wertheimer did an experiment like this with lights flashing on and off.

He found that our brains can still make sense of things even when parts are separate. For example, if you see three lights flashing, your brain can see it as one movement instead of separate flashes. This is called the "phi phenomenon," and it helped scientists learn more about how our brains work.

Max Wertheimer's work was important because he studied the way our minds organize and experience visual and sensory stimuli, which helps explain how we perceive the world around us.