Internal references in cross-modal judgments: A global psychophysical perspective

Area of Science:

• Psychophysics
• Cognitive Science
• Sensory Perception

Background:

• Cross-dimensional matching allows comparing intensities of different sensory stimuli (e.g., visual brightness to auditory loudness).
• The regression effect, where adjusted stimuli tend toward a mean, suggests internal references are used.
• Existing psychophysical theories, like Stevens', do not explicitly incorporate internal references.

Purpose of the Study:

• To generalize R. Duncan Luce's theory of global psychophysics to include role-dependent internal references.
• To empirically test the role of internal references in cross-dimensional magnitude production and matching.
• To provide a unified theoretical framework for understanding the regression effect.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical generalization of Luce's global psychophysics model.
• Reanalysis of existing empirical data from magnitude production and matching experiments.
• Comparison of predictions from the generalized theory with classical psychophysical data.

Main Results:

• Internal references were found to be role-dependent in cross-dimensional tasks (intra- and cross-modal).
• Internal references were found to be role-independent in intra-dimensional tasks.
• The generalized theory's predictions closely matched classical matching data.

Conclusions:

• The generalized theory offers a coherent explanation for the regression effect in cross-dimensional matching.
• Internal references play a crucial, role-dependent role in cross-modal and intra-modal sensory perception.
• The study advances global psychophysics by integrating internal references and making them empirically testable.