Today is Fechner Day! It celebrates the day on which, according to legend, Gustav Theodor Fechner developed the psychophysical method by which an experimenter manipulates the intensity of a physical stimulus, and then asks (what we would now call) a participant what sort of change, if any, s/he perceives. By doing this repeatedly, one can build up a geometrical curve of the relationship between the physical and the psychological, and then fit a mathematical equation to that curve. Fechner found that the relationship is logarithmic. Smitty Stevens later decided that the relationship was a power function instead. The debate continues.
Chris -- 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])
