Fundamental Measurement of Perceived Length and Perceived Area

2016

Univ Psychol

The study explored whether the knowledge of Archimedes' law of the lever can be used to measure subjective intensities. Participants were presented with two achromatic rectangles on a horizontal line-drawn lever, one on the left and one on the right of the fulcrum. The left rectangle had a fixed low luminance. For different combinations of luminance and distance from the fulcrum of the right rectangle, participants were asked to position the left rectangle at a distance from the fulcrum such that the weight of the light emitted by the left rectangle kept the lever horizontal given the weight of the light emitted by the right rectangle. Most of the participants solved the task in accordance with their knowledge of Archimedes' law. This finding is interpreted to imply that the perceived distance of the left rectangle from the fulcrum was proportional to the perceived brightness of the right rectangle. It suggests that people's explicit or implicit knowledge of ratios and proportions in Archimedes' law of the lever, and perhaps in other physical laws, could potentially be used to measure any subjective intensity on a ratio scale. KeywordsPhysical laws, psychophysics, Archimedes law, Integration Information Theory . RESUMENEste estudio explora si el conocimiento de las leyes de Arquímedes de las palancas puede ser usado para la medición subjetiva de las intensidades. Se les presentaron a los participantes dos rectángulos en escala de grises, ubicados sobre una palanca dibujada como una línea horizontal, uno a la derecha y uno a la izquierda del fulcro. El rectángulo de la izquierda fue fijado con una iluminación baja. Para las diferentes combinaciones de iluminación y distancia del fulcro se usó el rectángulo de la derecha. Los participantes fueron interrogados sobre la posición y la distancia del rectángulo de la izquierda con respecto al fulcro, tanto como sobre el peso y la luz emitida por el rectángulo de la derecha. La mayoría de los participantes solucionaron la tarea de acuerdo con su conocimiento de las leyes de Arquímedes. Este hallazgo es interpretado como una implicación de que la distancia percibida del rectángulo de la izquierda con respecto al fulcro fue proporcional al brillo percibido de la distancia del rectángulo de la derecha. Esto sugiere que el conocimiento implícito o explícito de las personas y las tasas de sus proporciones en la ley de Arquímedes de las palancas, y quizá en otras leyes de la física, podrían potencialmente ser usadas para medir la fuerza subjetiva en una escala de proporción. Palabras claveLeyes físicas, psicofísica, ley de Arquímedes, teoría de integración de la información .

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

The weight of light

2016

Univ Psychol

“…Perceived distance judged by ratio estimation linearly represents both perceived and physical distance (Masin, 2012;Masin & Anali, 2011;Wagner, 2006, p. 87). The ratio of the physical distance between B and C to that between A and B should thus linearly represent the ratio of the perceived counterparts of these distances.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Test of the Ratio Judgment Hypothesis

The Journal of General Psychology

2014

Self Cite

The hypothesis that we are capable of judging ratios of subjective intensities is widely used in psychology. Here, experimental results are reported that more stringently verify prior findings that people respond to sensory intensity differences while they execute the task of judging sensory intensity ratios. This verification was made on brightness and heaviness and for verbal and matching responses, suggesting that the results may be general for both sensory intensive dimensions and response systems. The results have implications for the comparisons of scores on evaluation scales based on ratio judgment.

“…The constant k expresses the possible effect of constant errors. The hypothesis that Ψ S is constant during mental counting receives support from the finding that, under proper conditions, mental counting yields judgments of lengths in flat surfaces that are consistent with the laws of geometry (Masin, 2012). Experiment 1 tested the validity of Eqs.…”

Section: Hypotheses About Ratio Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the ability to directly evaluate sensory ratios

Atten Percept Psychophys

2012

Self Cite

The study explored whether participants could directly evaluate sensory ratios. The results indicate that they did not exhibit this ability for the extensive continuum of length and the intensive continua of brightness and brightness difference. Functional measurement analysis, combined with a chronometric analysis of responses, indicated that participants used mental counting for length and used difference evaluation for brightness and brightness difference. The finding that participants evaluated brightness differences under instructions to evaluate brightness ratios suggests that difference judgments may be a general human capability. It resolves questions raised by prior tests of Torgerson's conjecture and by prior consistency tests of ratio evaluation.