Final answer:
The reverse of the tendency to perceive broken figures as complete is the lack of the Gestalt principle of closure in perception.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reverse of the tendency to perceive a broken figure as being complete or whole is the absence of what is known as the principle of closure within Gestalt psychology. The principle of closure is one of the several Gestalt principles that describe how humans tend to organize sensory stimuli into a whole, rather than perceiving them as disparate parts. When this principle is not applied, we may instead perceive incomplete shapes just as they are, without filling in the missing information to see a whole figure.
Two other Gestalt principles include the law of continuity, which suggests we favor smooth, continuous lines over jagged ones; and the figure-ground relationship, where we distinguish between a figure and its background. These principles, including closure, serve as foundational concepts in understanding human perception and how we interpret our sensory experiences to form a coherent view of the world around us.