Unification of psychophysical phenomena: The complete form of Fechner’s law
- 1 January 1997
- journal article
- Published by Springer Nature in Perception & Psychophysics
- Vol. 59 (6), 929-940
- https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03205509
Abstract
Many of the laws and empirical observations of fundamental psychophysics can be unified with a single equation, which has been called the complete form of Fechner’s law. It can be shown that this law embraces both of the commonly used forms: Stevens’s and Fechner’s laws. It assumes one or the other form with appropriate values of the parameters. However, the complete equation confers an advantage beyond simply containing the classical laws. It offers greater flexibility in the representation of experimental data. It is shown that psychophysical phenomena may be represented by any number of triplets of quantities: subjective magnitude of stimulus, subjective just noticeable difference (jnd), and differential threshold. Each of the preceding quantities are functions of the physical magnitude of the stimulus. The investigator has the license to choose two of these quantities in the form he or she thinks is best; the third quantity is determined by the choice of the first two. Thus, for example, different forms of the law of sensation and different forms of the mathematical function for differential threshold may coexist with equal validity.Keywords
This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- Function learning: Induction of continuous stimulus-response relations.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1991
- Intensity discrimination as the driving force for loudness. Application to pure tones in quietThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1990
- Reconciling Fechner and Stevens: Toward a unified psychophysical lawBehavioral and Brain Sciences, 1989
- Response scales and sequential effects in judgmentPerception & Psychophysics, 1981
- Intensity perception XI. Experimental results on the relation of intensity resolution to loudness matchingThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1980
- Intensity perception. VIII. Loudness comparisons between different types of stimuliThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1977
- Intensity discrimination as a function of frequency and sensation levelThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1977
- On scales of sensation: Prolegomena to any future psychophysics that will be able to come forth as sciencePerception & Psychophysics, 1974
- Some Factors Affecting the Estimation of LoudnessThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1961
- Weber's Law and Related FunctionsThe Journal of Psychology, 1959