Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated

Constancy

The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging, despite changes in sensory input.1

People tend to perceive objects as constant and unchanging, despite changes in perspective, lighting, color, or size. For example, a person viewed at a distance produces a smaller image on the retina than that same person up close, but the perception of the size of the person is constant. The ability to perceive objects as having constant properties despite variations in how they are perceived eliminates the need to reinterpret those objects when they are perceived under different conditions. This indicates that perception involves more than simply receiving sensory inputs; rather, it is a process of continuously reconciling sensory inputs with memories ...