SCALING EXTRAVEHICULAR AND EN ROUTE JUDGMENTS OF AUTOMOBILE SPEED.

Abstract

Automobiles were used to investigate psychophysical laws which govern judgments of three forms of subjective speed: linear speed; approach speed; and en route speed. By the method of magnitude estimation, subjective values of all three were found to be power functions of their corresponding physical velocities with exponents of 1.00, 1.75, and 1.94. The relation between category and magnitude scales of en route speed was also studied. Characteristic of prothetic continua, the category scales are concave downward when plotted as a function of the magnitude scales. In order to determine the descriptive value of Weber's Law for en route velocity, several difference thresholds were taken at velocities from 20 to 60 miles per hour. The results show that Weber's fraction, delta I/I, is constant over this range. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1967
Accession Number
AD0657303

Entities

People

  • George Semb

Organizations

  • University of Washington

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Automobiles
  • Cognition
  • Ground Vehicles
  • Judgment
  • Mental Processes
  • Motion
  • Motor Vehicles
  • Passenger Vehicles
  • Physical Properties
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Regression Analysis.
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.