Subjective ratios and differences in perceived heaviness.

ABSTRACT

In previous studies, judgments of ratios and differences in subjective magnitude have yielded similar orders, consistent with a hypothesis that a single perceived relation underlies both judgment tasks. In the present research, 15 subjects estimated heaviness differences between 28 pairs of eight weights and each of 8 groups of 10 subjects evaluated heaviness ratios of eight variable stimuli with respect to a different standard stimulus. Presenting stimuli that were equally spaced on a cube-root scale of weight enhanced expected ordinal discrepancies between ratio and difference estimates, and employing independent groups for each standard stimulus in ratio estimation eliminated a possible bias due to varying standards within the presentation sequence. Differences in orders of ratio and difference estimates together with differences in scales obtained from non-metric analyses in terms of a difference model indicated that the judgments were based on two perceived relations that are ordinally consistent with arithmetic operations of ratios and differences. A ratio scale of heaviness was derived from the combined orders of subjective ratios and differences.