Fechner's "inner psychophysics."

Though psychologists are generally aware that Gustav Fechner introduced psychophysics and set down its essential methodology, most of them only know about the part that Fechner called “outer psychophysics.” In his classic publication of 1860, Fechner insisted that “inner psychophysics” was more important, yet this aspect of Fechner's work failed to receive any attention. The article reviews Fechner's presentation of inner psychophysics and suggests reasons why that part of his work was neglected and has been forgotten. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The final tribute of E. G. Boring to G. T. Fechner: Concerning the date October 22, 1850.

E. G. Boring, the preeminent historian of experimental psychology, wrote a letter shortly before his death in 1968 concerning G. T. Fechner's first insight into the fundamental principle of psychophysics on October 22, 1850. The celebration of that date at Harvard, more or less annually, and the establishment there of the first chair of psychophysics are recounted in the letter and interwoven with Boring's own birthday (October 23). The letter is published here as a minor contribution to the centennial of Fechner's death (November 18, 1887). That event was scheduled for celebration at Leipzig University by a three-day symposium in June devoted to Fechner's founding of psychophysics and, hence, of experimental psychology. Boring's later skepticism about the validity of certain landmark dates in scientific history was meant to deemphasize the contribution of the individual and to strengthen the role of the impersonal Zeitgeist. But it appears that this skepticism may have arisen, in part, from Boring's recognition of his subjectivity in playfully confounding Fechner's date of insight with his own birthday. Overgeneralization may have followed the fun. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fechner's later psychophysics.

Although G. T. Fechner's writings after Elements of Psychophysics (1860) are not well-known today, Fechner remained active in psychophysics for 27 yrs. Among his achievements were attempts to clarify, by experiment, the degree to which E. H. Weber's (1846 [1978]) law was valid in various sensory modalities. Fechner came to grips with the objection that sensations were not the sort of things that could be said to have strengths. He devoted much effort to evaluating J. A. Plateau's (1872) notion that the psychophysical law was not logarithmic but took the form of a power law. Fechner addressed the nature of negative sensations, and his inner psychophysics foreshadowed such modern notions as signal detection theory and holographic memory. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

R. Duncan Luce: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards.

Presents the citation of the 1970 American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award winner, Robert Duncan Luce. The award citations reads: "For his leadership in the development of theories that range from social behavior, to learning and memory, to perception and psychophysics. By his judicious use of mathematical methods he has contributed significantly to the development of psychology as a quantitative science. The hallmark of his research has been to take an extremely simple set of axioms and explore in detail their implications for a wide range of phenomena. For example, in his theory of choice, a general axiom concerning selections from related sets of alternatives is shown to have important applications in such diverse fields as psychophysics, learning, and social utility. Mathematical theory dominates his work, but it is by no means anti-empirical; it has been a stimulus for many important experimental studies. His recent contribution to the theory of measurement has broad ramifications not only for psychology but for the general methodology of all sciences." Personal biographic information is also included, along with a list of the recipient's scientific writings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituary: Mathew Alpern (1920–1996).

Memorializes Mathew Alpern, whose legacies to psychology are a body of research built on the fundamental lesson of visual psychophysics. To Alpern the most powerful and enduring science was a detailed correspondence between qualitative and quantitative psychophysical laws and the predictions of a theory based on analyses of the underlying neural structures and processes. Alpern was widely known for his pioneering investigations of metacontrast and related topics, such as visual persistence. Though psychophysical correspondence was his special passion, much of Alpern's research concerned correspondences among physical measures of human neural activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seth D. Pollak: Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology.

Presents the citation for Seth D. Pollak, who received the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology (developmental psychology) "for his research on the mechanisms of emotional development using an innovative combination of methods from psychophysics, neuroscience, and behavioral endocrinology." A brief profile and a selected bibliography accompany the citation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lorrin Andrews Riggs (1912-2008).

Lorrin Andrews Riggs was a leading scholar in the field of visual psychophysics and physiology. His research brought new understanding to the functioning of the visual system, and his numerous students have continued to make notable contributions to visual science. Although he received an extraordinary number of professional honors during his lifetime, he remained a humble scientist and congenial colleague and friend. Lorrin Riggs died on April 10, 2008, in Hanover. He was 95. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Muzafer Sherif: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Acknowledges the presentation of the American Psychological Association (APA) 1968 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award to Muzafer Sherif. The citation reads: "For his dedication to objective, quantitative measures in numerous studies of interpersonal behavior. He and his colleagues have shown that methods developed in psychophysics and scaling can be fruitfully applied in the investigation of social judgments and attitudes. His early study of the autokinetic phenomenon in a social context galvanized social psychologists into approaching their problems with the methods and tools used in the study of sensation and judgment, and his later study of formation and characteristics of democratic and authoritarian societies, to mention only these, stand as classics in social psychology. In his devotion to basic research he has contributed importantly to the extension of scientific psychology to the study of group behavior." A biography and a listing of the awardee's scientific writings are also included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

To honor Fechner and obey Stevens: Relationships between psychophysical and neural nonlinearities.

G. T. Fechner (1860/1966) famously described two kinds of psychophysics: Outer psychophysics captures the black box relationship between sensory inputs and perceptual magnitudes, whereas inner psychophysics contains the neural transformations that Fechner's outer psychophysics elided. The relationship between the two has never been clear. Moreover, psychophysical power laws are found in almost every sensory system, yet the vast majority of neurons show sigmoid nonlinearities. Here, we selectively review the literatures on psychophysical and physiological nonlinearities and show how they can be placed within a framework for understanding the relationship between inner and outer psychophysics: a neural organization with a logical structure commensurate to outer psychophysical theory. In theoretical treatments of Stevens's law, the power law is a consequence of combining a Weber's law scaling of inputs with a Weber's law–like scaling of sensation magnitudes, yielding an exponent that is the ratio of the Weber constants. A neural derivation using physiological sigmoid nonlinearities should be commensurate to this internal logic. There is a class of models in which two nonlinear neural mechanisms (e.g., a sensory channel and the cortical numerosity mechanism tapped by magnitude estimation) are coupled through feedback, yielding power law behavior as an emergent property of the system, with an exponent that is a ratio of neural coupling strengths. Rather than a discrepancy between psychophysics and physiology, these models suggest complementarity between inner and outer psychophysics, because the Weber constants required for outer psychophysics modeling can be derived from the sigmoid nonlinearities of inner psychophysics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology: Wendell R. Garner.

The American Psychological Foundation (APF) Gold Medal Awards recognize distinguished and enduring records of accomplishments in 4 areas of psychology. The 1999 recipient of the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology is Wendell R. Garner. Garner is known for his work in psychophysics, discrimination, perception, and information processing. A citation, biography, and selected bibliography of Garner's work are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituary: J. P. Guilford (1897–1987).

Joy Paul Guilford, known to his friends as J.P., died of natural causes on November 26, 1987, at the UCLA Medical Center. He was 90 years old. He is survived by his wife, Ruth, his daughter, Joan S. MeGuire, three grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. In 1924, Guilford entered the PhD program at Cornell University, where he studied with such giants in the history of psychology as E. B. Titchener, Kurt Kottka, Harry Helson, and Karl Dallenbach. Guilford immersed himself in psychophysics and other classical topics in the experimental psychology of the times, publishing 5 articles before earning a PhD degree in 1927. His doctoral thesis showed that variations in reported sensory experience with weak stimuli should not be attributed to fluctuations in attention as was commonly supposed at the time. A list of honors and awards are stated. He had a profound impact on psychology as a teacher, scientist, and writer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clarence Henry Graham: American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Reports that Clarence Henry Graham is one of the recipients of the 1966 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. His citation reads: "For his studies of afferent and central mechanisms of behavior and of psychological methods. His early work with collaborators led to the first recording of electrical activity in single nerve fibers in the visual system. His behavioral analyses of the psychophysical methods, his quantitative measurements of the acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery of the simple running response, his studies of area-intensity and intensity-time relations in visual psychophysics, his investigations of space perception, particularly stereoscopic cues and monocular movement parallax, and, most recently, his research on color vision and color blindness are models of effective, quantitative research. Singly they are important; in toto they are an impressive contribution to human enlightenment." A personal biography is also included, along with a listing of his scientific writings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology.

Discusses the contributions made by H. W. Leibowitz, the 1993 recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology presented by the American Psychological Association. Leibowitz is awarded for his contributions ranging from laboratory studies of oculomotor and sensory processes to sport psychology, from sensory psychophysics to the interpretation of satellite images, and from fundamental questions concerning visual guidance to problems of night driving. A biography of the recipient is provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of electric field on physical states of cell-associated water in germinating morning glory seeds observed by 1H-NMR

For approximately three decades, researchers have utilized psychophysics to develop guidelines (weights, forces and frequencies) for manual materials handling tasks. Early work by Stover Snook and his colleagues provided the foundations of the experimental methodologies that would be used by other researchers as well as design data that would be used by practitioners. Currently, there are extensive psychophysical data for designing a variety of materials handling tasks. The current state of psychophysical data will be examined, and the psychophysical approach will be compared to the biomechanical and physiological approaches to setting limits for materials handling tasks. The advantages and disadvantages of the psychophysical approach will be discussed, as will the research needs required to address the current limitations of the psychophysical approach.     

J. P. Guilford: Psychologist and teacher.

A review of the life and contributions of one of the foremost psychologists of our time. The review covers the contributions of Guilford to experimental psychology—experimental esthetics, sensory processes, perception, and learning; statistical psychology—psychophysics, analysis, test theory and evaluation; measurement of mental abilities—aptitudes of high level personnel, structure of the intellect, and creativity; and personality—tests, questionnaires, and inventories by Guilford and his associates. A complete bibliography shows that Guilford published either as sole author or as co-author 21 books; 29 monographs; 158 articles; and 21 tests, manuals, and profile sheets. A portrait of Guilford is included. (7-p. bibliogr.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology.

The American Psychological Foundation (APF) Gold Medal Awards recognize distinguished and enduring records of accomplishments in 4 areas of psychology. The 1999 recipient of the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology is Wendell R. Garner. Joseph D. Matarazzo, President of the APF, will present the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology at the 107th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. Garner's body of work spans six decades and has a continuing influence on the field of psychology. His seminal studies on psychophysics, discrimination, perception, and information processing helped define such concepts as channel capacity and ultimately helped trigger the cognitive revolution. His book, Uncertainty and Structure as Psychological Concepts (1962) helped extend information theory into psychology. While his book, The Processing of Information and Structure (1974), helped introduce and integrate several experimental approaches to the central questions of pattern perception and dimensional interaction. Among his other contributions is the concept of converging operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituary: Joseph Tiffin (1905–1989).

Presents an obituary for Joseph Tiffin. Joseph Harold Tiffin (he didn't like the "Harold" and never used the "H") was born in Falls City, Nebraska, on July 4, 1905, grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and received his bachelor's degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of South Dakota in 1927. As a newlywed, he entered graduate school at the University of Iowa where he was an Eastman Fellow, received both his master's and PhD (1930) degrees under Carl Seashore, and was a fellow of the National Research Council before becoming a member of the University of Iowa psychology faculty in 1931. As Seashore's student and colleague he developed an intense interest in psychophysics and sensory/motor phenomena. (He was the first to photograph the human vocal chords in action.) In the early stages of as-yet-undiagnosed Parkinson's disease, he retired as Professor Emeritus of Industrial Psychology at Purdue University in 1971. Joe and his wife, Mary Edith Straight, moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to be near their daughter and her family. Mary Edith died in 1985, following which Joe was moved to a nursing home. He died March 1, 1989. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ernest Ropiequet Hilgard: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

A Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award was given to Ernest Ropienquet Hilgard by the American Psychological Association for his impressive range of experimental and theoretical work on learning, hypnosis, and education. His research on learning has contributed to topics as diverse as eyelid conditioning, motor learning, and the role of understanding in transfer of training. His studies of hypnosis have extended our knowledge, not only of hypnosis itself, but of psychophysics, motivation, and personality. He has been the definitive interpreter of learning theory to a generation of psychologists, and a leader in exploring the relations of the psychology of learning to other fields. His analyses of the relations between psychology and education have contributed importantly to narrowing the gap between the two fields. As researcher, interpreter, and teacher he has been a scholar in the broadest sense. A brief biography is followed by a list of scientific publications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Francis W. Irwin (1905–1985).

Presents and obituary for Francis Irwin. For almost 60 years, Irwin devoted himself to learning, creating, and transmitting knowledge at the distinguished level worthy of a person of science and integrity. He labored assiduously to fashion a lasting contribution to his field, producing results and ideas which constitute a major addition to the structure required for a genuine science of behavior. His substantive contributions to psychophysics centered on the many changes occurring in subjects due to their experience in making the required judgments. His research also focused on methods in the psychology of motivation, and he developed his own theory of motivation, an elegant and carefully woven structure based on a clear philosophy of the nature of psychological science, relevant experimental results, and persistent confrontation of the complexities of animal and human motivation. Using the established tools of symbolic logic, as well as inventing a new operation required by an empirical science, Irwin built an inclusive theory of motivation solidly based on past data and theory. Among his many professional activities, Irwin served twice on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Psychological Association. He was also a member of the Society of Experimental Psychologists and served on its Warren Medal Committee. In addition, he had a distinguished career as an editor, editing the Journal of Experimental Psychology from 1942 to 1950 and contributed greatly to the achievement of its eminent status. Irwin died on July 8, 1985. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Choices, values, and frames.

Discusses the cognitive and the psychophysical determinants of choice in risky and riskless contexts. The psychophysics of value induce risk aversion in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. The psychophysics of chance induce overweighting of sure things and of improbable events, relative to events of moderate probability. Decision problems can be described or framed in multiple ways that give rise to different preferences, contrary to the invariance criterion of rational choice. The process of mental accounting, in which people organize the outcomes of transactions, explains some anomalies of consumer behavior. In particular, the acceptability of an option can depend on whether a negative outcome is evaluated as a cost or as an uncompensated loss. The relationships between decision values and experience values and between hedonic experience and objective states are discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)