Abstract
THE logarithmic law relating sensation and stimulus intensity which was first put forward by Fechner1 has in recent years been seriously challenged: it is claimed that experiment can show directly that the true psychophysical law is a power function2. But if the relation between these alternative laws is examined it appears that, unless special assumptions are made, the choice between them is not empirical, but conventional.
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References
Fechner, G. T., Elemente der Psychophysik (Leipzig, 1860).
Stevens, S. S., Amer. Scientist, 48, 226 (1960).
Ekman, G., J. Psychol., 45, 287 (1958).
Stevens, S. S., and Davis, H., Hearing (Wiley, New York, 1938).
Treisman, M., Quart. J. Exp. Psychol. (in the press); Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 13, 130 (1962).
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TREISMAN, M. Laws of Sensory Magnitude. Nature 198, 914–915 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/198914a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/198914a0
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