MEASURING

SENSATIONS
CHAPTER 6
What do we mean
by sensation?
 What do we mean
by sensation?

◂ The ability to detect a

stimulus and, perhaps, to
turn that detection into a
private experience.

3
What is
psychophysics?
 What is
psychophysics?
The science of defining
quantitative relationships
between physical and
psychological (subjective)
events.

5
 What is
psychophysics?
First, measuring sensations is very
difficult, because they are not open
to
public measurement as is light
intensity or the weight of a stone.
Second, the internal
judgments are not identical to the
amount of physical energy
influencing the sensory
apparatus
6
 Who is
Edwin Boring?
◂ eminent historian of
experimental psychology
◂ claims that the introduction
of techniques to measure
the relation between internal
impressions and the external
world marked the onset of
scientific psychology. 7
 Who is
Gustav Fechner?

◂ formalized the
psychophysical methods,
which measure attributes
of the world in terms of
their psychological values.

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 Who is
Gustav Fechner?

◂ Fechner attempted to
describe the relationship
between the mind and
body using the language
of mathematics.

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 Who is
Gustav Fechner?

◂ His methods showed that

psychological judgments
varied in particular ways
according to the intensity of
the stimulus and the
particular sensory modality of
the stimulus.
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 Some Relationships Between Physical
Stimuli and Psychological Judgments.

Physical Visual Intensity ◂ Psychological Brightness

Physical Auditory Intensity ◂ Psychological Loudness

Physical Measure of Weight ◂ Psychological Heaviness

Physical Electrical Intensity ◂ Psychological Pain

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 Operational Definitions

◂ the procedures used to

produce a concept and
allow us to communicate
successfully about the
concepts we are studying.

12
 Operational Definitions

◂ The most common way of providing

technical meaning is by using an
operational definition. An
operational definition is a formula
for building a construct in such a
way that other scientists can
duplicate it, by specifying the
operations used to produce and
measure it
13
What is threshold?
Thresholds:
◂ is the point of intensity at which
the participant can just detect
the presence of a stimulus
(absolute threshold) or the
presence of a difference
between two stimuli (difference
threshold)

15
Thresholds:
Classical Psychophysics
Psychophysical experiments have
traditionally used three methods
for testing subjects' perception in
stimulus detection and difference
detection experiments:
◂ the method of limits
◂ The method of constant stimuli
◂ the method of adjustment
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What is
Absolute threshold?
 Absolute Threshold
◂ based on an
observer’s ability to detect a
signal

◂ the level of intensity of a

stimulus at which the subject
is able to detect the presence
of the stimulus some
proportion of the time.
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 Method of Limits - Absolute

◂ In this method, a single stimulus is changed in intensity in

successive, discrete steps and the observer’s response to
each stimulus presentation is recorded
◂ The average of the intensity of the last “seen” and the first
“not seen” for ascending series & vice versa for descending
series, is recorded as an estimate of the absolute threshold.

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Big concept
Stimulus
detected
Stimulus no
Stimulus intensity

longer detected
Threshold:
average
stimulus
intensity

descending series ascending series

21
 Difference Threshold

◂ the magnitude of the

smallest difference between
two stimuli of differing
intensities that the
participant is able to detect
some proportion of the time

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 Method of Limits - Difference

◂ based on relative judgments, in which a constant

unchanging comparison stimulus is judged relative to
a series of changing stimuli.
◂ How different must two stimuli be before they can reliably
be distinguished?

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24
 Interval of Uncertainty

◂ the range of values of the

comparison stimulus in
which the comparison
stimulus cannot be reliably
discriminated from the
standard stimulus

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 POINT OF SUBJECTIVE
EQUALITY
◂ the value of a comparison
stimulant which, for a
rendered viewer, is equally
plausible of being
determined as higher or
lower than that of a standard
stimulant.

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 Who is Ernst
Heinrich Weber?

◂ Discovered that the

magnitude of
difference threshold
increases with the
increase of the
standard stimulus.
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 Who is Ernst
Heinrich Weber?

◂ For a particular sensory

modality, the size of
the difference
threshold relative to
the standard stimulus
is constant.
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 WEBER’S LAW

◂ the law postulating that

the strength and
intensity required to
identify modifications
within a stimulant is
correlated to
the absolute magnitude
of the stimulant.
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 STAIRCASE METHOD
◂ Where stimuli are
presented in ascending and
descending order. When
the response of the
observer changes so does
the direction.
◂ When there comes a
change in observer's
response, the dimension of
stimulus sequence is also
reversed.
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What is
Theory of
Signal Detection?
No Thresholds:
The Theory of
Signal Detection
◂ a theory predicting how and
when we predict the presence
of a faint stimulus aid
background stimulation
assumes that their is no single
absolute threshold and that
detection depends partly on a
person's experience,
expectations.
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No Thresholds:
The Theory of
Signal Detection

◂ our perception in general is

controlled by
evidence and decision
processes.

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A Theoretical Look at What
Happens in Signal Detection.

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No Thresholds:
The Theory of
Signal Detection

◂ It assumes that noise, a

disturbance that can be
confused
with signals, is always
present when a human
attempts to detect Hypothetical Distributions of “Yes” or “No”
signals. Responses as a Function of the Criterion and the
Magnitude of the Evidence.
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THE EFFECT OF NOISE ON PSYCHOMETRIC FUNCTIONS
100

Proportion stimuli detected (%)

◂ Detection or discrimination
of stimulus is always subject Above threshold:
to noise: random noise will
◂ Neural weaken signal for
◂ Stimulus (physical)
some trials, making
◂ Attention
◂ (Response) 50
detection <100%
◂ On any trial, noise will
randomly increase or Below threshold:
decrease perceived signal random noise will
intensity strengthen signal for
◂ Subject perceives signal+ some trials, making
noise (cannot tell the detection > 0%
difference) 0
◂ Changes step function to Stimulus
sigmoid (logistic) function intensity 36
 Detecting stimuli in noise:
Signal Detection Theory (SDT)
◂ SDT explains why shape of
psychometric function varies
with noise
◂ SDT explains how a subject’s
criterion (response bias) affects
decisions and how to measure it
◂ SDT allows measurement of
sensitivity (ability to make
correct responses/decisions)
regardless of criterion/bias
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Decision depends on
criterion
◂ The position of criterion is
set by the decision
process. If costs and benefits
favor a liberal decision policy,
the criterion will be set
far to the left, so that most
responses will be “yes.” If a
conservative policy is used,
the criterion moves to the
right, so that most responses
will be “no.” 38
Decision depends on
criterion
◂ correctly detecting a
signal when it is
presented is called a hit.

◂ Incorrectly responding
“yes” when only noise is
presented is called a
false alarm.

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Receiver Operating
Characteristic (ROC)

◂ a method to compare
the diagnostic
accuracy of the
various tests in an
objective manner.

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Relationship of SDT & Psychophysics
Decision criterion
Response: No Response: Yes
Discriminability
(sensitivity): d-
probability

prime (d’) - the

distance between
d’ the means of (N)
and (SN) in units of
S.D. Stimulus+Noise
(SN)
Noise (N)

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Stimulus intensity
 Operationally defined
concepts: d' and β.

◂ Sensory processes are measured

by d', and decision
◂ processes are measured by β.
Both d' and β can be
◂ computed from ROC (receiver-
operating characteristic)
functions that plot hits against
false alarms
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Sensitivity or
Discriminability (d’)
◂ sensitivity refers to how
hard or easy it is to
detect that a target
stimulus is present
from background
events

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Bias
◂ Bias is the extent to
which one response is
more probable than
another.

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 Decision Threshold

◂ when a stimulus yields

evidence that exceeds
the decision threshold,
what we have been
calling β or the criterion,
do we have correct
detection of the signal

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What are
Measurement Scales?
 What do we mean
by Measurement?

◂ a systematic way of
assigning numbers or
names to objects and their
attributes.

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 Properties of
Measurement Scales

◂ Difference
◂ Magnitude
◂ Equal intervals
◂ True zero

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 Types of Measurement Scales

◂ Nominal ◂ measure just the property of difference and

nothing else.

◂ Ordinal ◂ measure differences and magnitudes

◂ Interval ◂ possess the properties of difference,
magnitude, and equal intervals.
◂ Ratio ◂ have all four properties of measurement
scales (difference, magnitude, equal interval,
and a meaningful zero)
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“ Fechner's law a law that relates
subjective experience to changes
in stimulus intensity. This
psychophysical formula proposes
that the sensation experienced is
proportional to the logarithm of
the stimulus magnitude.
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 JUST-NOTICEABLE
DIFFERENCE

◂ the internal sensation

evoked by two stimuli that
differ by one difference
threshold,
is the unit defining the
intervals of an internal
psychological scale.
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“ Stevens’ Power Law is a proposed
relationship between the
magnitude of a physical stimulus
and its perceived intensity or
strength.
The general form of the law is:
ψ(I)=kIa
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 INDIRECT SCALING
METHOD

◂ the psychological scale

was built up by putting
successive JNDs in a row.

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 DIRECT SCALING
METHOD

◂ the observer responded in

psychological scale units in
the first place.

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 METHOD OF MAGNITUDE
ESTIMATION

◂ requires the observer to

state a number that
represents his or
her sensation of the
stimulus intensity.

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 LABELED MAGNITUDE
SCALE
◂ To minimize idiosyncratic
differences in the range of
numbers used in
psychophysical tasks and
also prevent constriction,
Bartoshuk and other
sensory psychologists use a
100-point ratio scale
procedure. 56
What is
Small-n Design?
 SMALL-N EXPERIMENTAL
DESIGN
◂ Psychophysical
research often relies on
small-n designs, in
which a large number
of tightly controlled
◂ observations are made
on a small number of
observers. 58
 STATISTICAL PREDICTION
RULES
◂ based on predictor
variables and diagnostic
information that can be
consulted during
detection decisions of
various kinds.

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END