The Judgment of Size

Dividing attention across feature dimensions in statistical processing of perceptual groups

“…The values associated with small, large, slow, and fast were adjusted so as to achieve the desired mean size and speed difference between sides (6%, 12%, 18%, 24%, 30%, or 36%), with mean size and mean speed determined independently on each trial. Differences in mean size were defined on a perceptual scale (Teghtsoonian, 1965), whereas differences in mean speed were linear. On half of the trials, the range of sizes and speeds on the equal-frequencies side of the display was the same as that on the opposite side; on the rest of the trials, it was equal to half the range on the opposite side.…”

Magnitude estimation of conceptual data dimensions for use in sonification.

“…In this experiment the dimension of size (e.g., line length) was treated as a perceptual dimension and was included as a calibration of the experimental procedure, since there is some literature on the magnitude estimation of line length (e.g., Stevens, 1975;Stevens & Guirao, 1963; see also Teghtsoonian, 1965). Stevens and Guirao (1963) studied magnitude estimation of line lengths and, as Stevens later wrote, "demonstrated clearly that the exponent for line length is very close to 1.0.…”

“…Teghtsoonian indicates that Ekman (1958) found an exponent of 0.86 for circles. Teghtsoonian (1965), "value" at all, let alone differences between conceptual data types.…”

Size perception by vision and kinesthesia

“…Action (putting the rod into the groove) was implicated in the instructions so that ( I) in the context ofaction, the perceptual task would make more sense to the subjects (see, e.g., Michaels & Carello, 1981) and (2) the instructions would be "objective" (i.e., having the subjects focus their attention on objectsthe rod and the groove-and not on their percepts of length). These two kinds of instructions (apparent vs. objective) could result in differentjudgments (M. Teghtsoonian, 1965).…”