Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 261 views

    Weber-Fechner Law - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

    Uploaded by

    jamshed khan
    The Weber-Fechner law describes the relationship between physical stimuli and the perceived intensity of those stimuli. It states that the perceived difference in stimuli is proportional to the original level of stimuli. Specifically, the perceived difference is a constant fraction of the original stimuli. This relationship is logarithmic - a doubling of physical stimuli results in a constant increase in perceived intensity. This logarithmic relationship applies to senses like vision, hearing, touch, and others.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Weber-Fechner Law - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

    Uploaded by

    jamshed khan
    261 views5 pages
    The Weber-Fechner law describes the relationship between physical stimuli and the perceived intensity of those stimuli. It states that the perceived difference in stimuli is proportional to the original level of stimuli. Specifically, the perceived difference is a constant fraction of the original stimuli. This relationship is logarithmic - a doubling of physical stimuli results in a constant increase in perceived intensity. This logarithmic relationship applies to senses like vision, hearing, touch, and others.

    Original Title

    Weber–Fechner law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.doc

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The Weber-Fechner law describes the relationship between physical stimuli and the perceived intensity of those stimuli. It states that the perceived difference in stimuli is proportional to the original level of stimuli. Specifically, the perceived difference is a constant fraction of the original stimuli. This relationship is logarithmic - a doubling of physical stimuli results in a constant increase in perceived intensity. This logarithmic relationship applies to senses like vision, hearing, touch, and others.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    261 views5 pages

    Weber-Fechner Law - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

    Uploaded by

    jamshed khan
    The Weber-Fechner law describes the relationship between physical stimuli and the perceived intensity of those stimuli. It states that the perceived difference in stimuli is proportional to the original level of stimuli. Specifically, the perceived difference is a constant fraction of the original stimuli. This relationship is logarithmic - a doubling of physical stimuli results in a constant increase in perceived intensity. This logarithmic relationship applies to senses like vision, hearing, touch, and others.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 5

    WeberFechner law

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


    Jump to: navigation, search
    The WeberFechner law attempts to describe the relationship between the physical
    magnitudes of stimuli and the perceived intensity of the stimuli. Ernst einrich Weber
    !"#$%&"'#'( was one of the first people to approach the study of the human response to a
    physical stimulus in a )uantitative fashion. *ustav Theodor Fechner !"'+"&"''#( later
    offered an elaborate theoretical interpretation of Weber,s findings, which he called simply
    Weber's law.
    Contents
    " The case of weight
    - The case of vision
    . The case of sound
    / The case of numerical cognition
    % 0ee also
    1 2eferences
    [edit] The case of weight
    3n one of his e4periments, Weber gradually increased the weight that a blindfolded man
    was holding and asked him to respond when he first felt the increase. Weber found that
    the smallest noticeable difference in weight !the least difference that the test person can
    still perceive as a difference(, was proportional to the starting value of the weight. That is
    to say, if the weight is " kg, an increase of a few grams will not be noticed. 2ather, when
    the mass is increased by a certain factor, an increase in weight is perceived. 3f the mass is
    doubled, the threshold called smallest noticeable difference also doubles. This kind of
    relationship can be described by a differential e)uation as,
    where dp is the differential change in perception, dS is the differential increase in the
    stimulus and S is the stimulus at the instant. 5 constant factor k is to be determined
    e4perimentally.
    3ntegrating the above e)uation gives
    where C is the constant of integration, ln is the natural logarithm.
    To determine C, put p 6 +, i.e. no perception7 then
    where S
    +
    is that threshold of stimulus below which it is not perceived at all.
    Therefore, our e)uation becomes
    The relationship between stimulus and perception is logarithmic. This logarithmic
    relationship means that if a stimulus varies as a geometric progression !i.e. multiplied by
    a fi4ed factor(, the corresponding perception is altered in an arithmetic progression !i.e. in
    additive constant amounts(. For e4ample, if a stimulus is tripled in strength !i.e, . 4 "(,
    the corresponding perception may be two times as strong as its original value !i.e., " 8 "(.
    3f the stimulus is again tripled in strength !i.e., . 4 . 4 "(, the corresponding perception
    will be three times as strong as its original value !i.e., " 8 " 8 "(. ence, for
    multiplications in stimulus strength, the strength of perception only adds.
    This logarithmic relationship is valid, not 9ust for the sensation of weight, but for other
    stimuli and our sensory perceptions as well.
    3n addition, the mathematical derivations of the tor)ues on a simple beam balance
    produce a description that is strictly compatible with Weber,s law !see link" or link-(.
    [edit] The case of vision
    The eye senses brightness appro4imately logarithmically over a fairly broad range. ence
    stellar magnitude is measured on a logarithmic scale. This magnitude scale was invented
    by the ancient *reek astronomer ipparchus in about "%+ :.;. e ranked the stars he
    could see in terms of their brightness, with " representing the brightest down to 1
    representing the faintest, though now the scale has been e4tended beyond these limits. 5n
    increase in % magnitudes corresponds to a decrease in brightness by a factor of "++.
    <odern researchers have attempted to incorporate such perceptual effects into
    mathematical models of vision.
    =">=->
    [edit] The case of sound
    0till another logarithmic scale is the decibel scale of sound intensity. 5nd yet another is
    pitch, which, however, differs from the other cases in that the physical )uantity involved
    is not a ?strength?.
    3n the case of perception of pitch, humans hear pitch in a logarithmic or geometric ratio@
    based fashion: For notes spaced e)ually apart to the human ear, the fre)uencies are
    related by a multiplicative factor. For instance, the fre)uency of corresponding notes of
    ad9acent octaves differ by a factor of -. 0imilarly, the perceived difference in pitch
    between "++ A and "%+ A is the same as between "+++ A and "%++ A. <usical
    scales are always based on geometric relationships for this reason. Botation and theory
    about music often refers to pitch intervals in an additive way, which makes sense if one
    considers the logarithms of the fre)uencies, as
    Coudness: Weber,s law does not )uite hold for loudness. 3t is a good appro4imation for
    higher amplitudes, but not for lower amplitudes.
    [edit] The case of numerical cognition
    Dsychological studies show that numbers are thought of as e4isting along a mental
    number line.
    =.>
    Carger entries are on the right and smaller entries on the left. 3t becomes
    increasingly difficult to discriminate among two places on a number line as the distance
    between the two places decreasesEknown as the distance effect.
    =/>
    This is important in
    areas of magnitude estimation, such as dealing with large scales and estimating distances.
    [edit] See also
    0tevens, power law
    0one
    Bervous 0ystem
    uman nature
    2icco,s Caw
    [edit] References
    ". ^ Jianhong !Jackie( 0hen and Foon@<o Jung !-++1(, 5ppl. <ath. Gptim.,
    %.!.(:.."@.%', Weberized Mumford-Shah model with Bose-Einstein photon noise
    -. ^ Jianhong !Jackie( 0hen !-++.(, Dhysica H: Bonlinear Dhenomena,
    "#%!.I/(:-/"@-%", On the foundations of vision modeling ! Weber"s law and
    Weberized #$ %total variation& restoration .
    .. ^ <oyer, 2. 0. J Candauer, T. K. !"$1#(, Bature, -"%:"%"$@"%-+, #ime re'uired
    for (udgments of numerical ine'ualit) .
    /. ^ Congo, <. 2. J lourenco, 0. F. !-++#(, Beuropsychologia, /%, "/++@"/+1,
    Spatial attention and the mental number line* evidence for characteristic biases
    and compression .
    2etrieved from ?http:IIen.wikipedia.orgIwikiIWeberLMNFechnerOlaw?
    ;ategories: Derception P :ehavioral concepts P Dsychophysics
    iews
    5rticle
    Hiscussion
    Edit this page
    istory
    !ersonal tools
    Try :eta
    "og in # create account
    $avigation
    <ain page
    ;ontents
    Featured content
    ;urrent events
    2andom article
    Search
    Go

    Search
    %nteraction
    5bout Wikipedia
    ;ommunity portal
    2ecent changes
    ;ontact Wikipedia
    Honate to Wikipedia
    elp
    Toolbo&
    What links here
    2elated changes
    Qpload file
    0pecial pages
    Drintable version
    Dermanent link
    ;ite this page
    "anguages
    RSTUVWXYZ
    Heutsch
    Espa[ol
    Fran\ais
    3taliano
    ]^_`a
    <agyar
    Bederlands

    Dolski
    bcXXYZd
    0imple English
    0loveneina
    fYWVghXiYV
    This page was last modified on # Hecember -++$ at +#:"$.
    Te4t is available under the ;reative ;ommons 5ttribution@0hare5like Cicense7
    additional terms may apply. 0ee Terms of Qse for details.
    Wikipediaj is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, 3nc., a non@
    profit organiAation.
    ;ontact us
    Drivacy policy
    5bout Wikipedia
    Hisclaimers

    You might also like