As the psychoacoustics/psychophysics "dude" on TIPS, I can confirm what Chris Green & others have said...the notions of absolute threshold and differential threshold go way back before Stevens
(heh, there was a recent thread about old TV shows; some of you would probably remember that "way back machine"). In fact, those concepts likely even precede Weber & Fechner. John -- John Serafin Psychology Department Saint Vincent College Latrobe, PA 15650 [email protected] > From: "Christopher D. Green" <[email protected]> > Reply-To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > <[email protected]> > Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:20:47 -0400 > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > Conversation: [tips] JND,Psychoacoustics,and the UN > Subject: Re: [tips] JND,Psychoacoustics,and the UN > > michael sylvester wrote: >> >> It was,I think,SS Stevens and his psychophysics stuff who might have >> introduced the notion of absolute threshold and just noticeable differences >> in the field > > It was much earlier, with Weber and Fechner. >> >> and I find myself trying to see how those constructs could be applied to >> interpreters at the United Nations. > > I don't know about the UN, but if you are inclined to think that psychophysics > is one of those highly abstruse topics without many real-world applications, > Malcolm Gladwell's TED talk on spaghetti sauce may change your mind. > > Chris > -- > Christopher D > > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > > > 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 > [email protected] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > > ========================== > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
