Historical Context – Weber’s law
With experimental roots dating to the mid-to late-nineteenth century, psychology remains a fairly young science compared to other scientific disciplines. One historical landmark postulation that continues to define psychology is the Weber-Fechner law. This law relates stimulus, intensity, and perception and posits that an individual’s perception of a change in any given stimulus will be dependent on the stimulus itself. This law has found utility in modern psychology as it facilitates an understanding of how people perceive varying stimuli.
The article “The mechanistic foundation of Weber’s law” by Pardo-Vazquez et al. (2019) details the mechanistic foundations of Weber’s law. This experiment investigates regularity in sensation as postulated by Weber’s law by training rats to discriminate relative sound intensities at various levels. This experiment reveals the existence of psychophysical regularity and how reaction times vary as a function of the absolute level of the sound. The author concludes that findings from this experiment provide a basis for the mathematical computation of Weber’s law and how the sensory neurons encode stimulus intensity. It also reveals how discriminatory choices are made based on the intensities of this stimulus. This article is an actual presentation of the theoretical concepts and class readings on Weber’s law. It explains the foundational basis of the law and demonstrates how discriminatory choices are made.
The article “The Role of Weber’s Law in Human Time Perception” by…further affirms the utility of Weber’s law in various perceptual functionalities. This article investigated whether differences in temporal sensitivity in humans are better described by Weber’s linearity perceptual framework or the reverse J-shaped model. Data findings revealed that Weber’s linearity model provided a better description of human sensitivity to changes. As per these findings, sensitivity to the stimuli is increased by the increasing duration of the stimuli. This linear relationship between sensitivity and duration of the stimuli is consistent with the theoretical provisions of Weber’s law learned in class and depicted in texts. This model thus remains essential in representing and explaining how human beings perceive various stimuli. This underpins its relevance in psychology.
The articles listed affirm the relevance of Weber’s law in psychology. The evolution of psychology has seen many theories and principles established to enhance the understanding of human behavior. Weber’s law creates a foundational basis for understanding how humans perceive varying stimuli. The article by Pardo-Vazquez et al. (2019) provides an experimental basis for this principle. It demonstrates how the perception of various stimuli differs in animals by using rats. Findings from the article gave insight into the underlying principles on which the law was established. It is thus important to learners as it enables them to have a better grasp of the law.
The article by Haigh et al. (2020)details the role Weber’s law plays in time perception. This law also affirms its significance in perceptual functionalities. Many studies have been published on the utility of Weber’s principle, with many refuting its utility in explaining perceptual functionalities. Algom (2021) even notes that the law is a misnomer that should be rectified. This article, however, reinforces why this law remains the most widely used principle in psychology. The comparisons between the J-shaped and Weber linearity models reveal the superiority of this law in perceptual functionalities. The study, however, gives insight into scenarios that violate this law that have been observed consistently across animals and systems. Despite its accuracy and superiority in explaining the perception of the stimulus, this law may be an oversimplification of how humans perceive stimulus. This warrants further studies on the same.
References
Algom, D. (2021). The Weber–Fechner law: A misnomer that persists but that should go away. Psychological Review, 128(4), 757–765. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000278
Haigh, A., Apthorp, D., & Bizo, L. A. (2020). The Role of Weber’s Law in Human Time Perception. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 83(1), 435–447. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02128-6
Pardo-Vazquez, J. L., Castiñeiras-de Saa, J. R., Valente, M., Damião, I., Costa, T., Vicente, M. I., Mendonça, A. G., Mainen, Z. F., & Renart, A. (2019). The mechanistic foundation of Weber’s Law. Nature Neuroscience, 22(9), 1493–1502. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-019-0439-7
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Question 
Historical Context – Weber’s law
Find two peer-reviewed journal articles on Weber’s Law using the South University Online Library. In your synopsis, you will include:
A summary of each of the journal articles
The main points discussed in each of the journal articles and how they relate to the week’s course and text readings
Your thoughts and perspectives regarding the concepts covered in each journal article.