Book section : Chapter
Psychophysics: concepts, methods, and frontiers
- Abstract:
- Fundamental to the human experience is sensing and perceiving properties of the environment. The set of methods in psychological science that concern the measurement of sensory and perceptual phenomena through behavior is called psychophysics. Psychophysics has a large history, and psychophysical measurements continue to be an integral part of sensory and perception science. Recent developments in stimulus control and how experiments are run have provided innovative impulses in the study of how one see and perceive the world around us. The psychophysical literature is immense. This chapter provides a pragmatic approach to psychophysics. It discusses why psychophysics is useful and presents examples from the published literature of psychophysics "in action". The chapter also examines and discusses the ingredients of a psychophysical experiment: the measure, the stimulus, the observer, the task, the method, and the analysis. Finally, it discusses the current frontiers of psychophysical experimentation.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 166.5KB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1037/0000318-024
Authors
Contributors
+ Cooper, H
- Role:
- Editor
+ Coutanche, MN
- Role:
- Editor
+ McMullen, LM
- Role:
- Editor
+ Panter, AT
- Role:
- Editor
+ Rindskopf, D
- Role:
- Editor
+ Wellcome Trust
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/029chgv08
- Grant:
- 204686/Z/16/Z
- 218657/Z/19/Z
+ European Commission
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/00k4n6c32
- Grant:
- 765911
- Publisher:
- American Psychological Association
- Host title:
- APA Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology: Volume 1: Foundations, Planning, Measures, and Psychometrics (2nd ed.)
- Pages:
- 511-528
- Chapter number:
- 24
- Series:
- APA Handbooks in Psychology
- Place of publication:
- Washington, DC, USA
- Publication date:
- 2023-06-22
- Edition:
- 2
- DOI:
- EISBN:
- 9781433841347
- ISBN:
- 9781433841330
- Language:
-
English
- Subtype:
-
Chapter
- Pubs id:
-
1916490
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1916490
- Deposit date:
-
2025-03-07
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- American Psychological Association
- Copyright date:
- 2023
- Rights statement:
- © 2023 by the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved.
- Notes:
- This is the accepted manuscript version of the chapter. The final version is available online from the American Psychological Association at https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0000318-024
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