Judgments of differences and ratios of subjective heaviness

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Masin, Sergio Cesare and Brancaccio, Andrea (2017) Judgments of differences and ratios of subjective heaviness. Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 79 (6). pp. 1860-1869. ISSN 1943-3921

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Abstract

Experimental instructions to judge differences or ratios of subjective heaviness numerically are generally assumed to produce judgments linearly proportional to the respective heaviness differences or heaviness ratios. In this study, participants were instructed to numerically judge the difference or ratio of heaviness between two weights being lifted separately, either unimanually or bimanually. Weight values were combined factorially. Patterns of factorial curves revealed that unimanual lifting triggered linear judgments of heaviness differences, whereas bimanual lifting triggered nonlinear judgments of heaviness ratios. Lifting conditions produced these judgments independently of the instruction specifications to judge differences or ratios. These results suggest the interpretation that unimanual lifting triggers linear judgments of heaviness differences by default, whereas bimanual lifting triggers nonlinear judgments of heaviness ratios learned through experience. Implications for sensory measurement are noted.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: difference judgment,integration psychophysics,ratio judgment,sensory measurement,subjective heaviness,experimental and cognitive psychology,language and linguistics,sensory systems,linguistics and language ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3205
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 16 Dec 2025 13:30
Last Modified: 19 Dec 2025 10:33
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101416
DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1334-5

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