Paradigm versus praxis: Why psychology "absolute identification" experiments do not reveal sensory processes
Kybernetes, ISSN: 0368-492X, Vol: 42, Issue: 9, Page: 1447-1456
2013
- 4Citations
- 4Captures
Metric Options: Counts1 Year3 YearSelecting the 1-year or 3-year option will change the metrics count to percentiles, illustrating how an article or review compares to other articles or reviews within the selected time period in the same journal. Selecting the 1-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year. Selecting the 3-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year plus the two years prior.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Article Description
Purpose: A key cybernetics concept, information transmitted in a system, was quantified by Shannon. It quickly gained prominence, inspiring a version by Harvard psychologists Garner and Hake for "absolute identification" experiments. There, human subjects "categorize" sensory stimuli, affording "information transmitted" in perception. The Garner-Hake formulation has been in continuous use for 62 years, exerting enormous influence. But some experienced theorists and reviewers have criticized it as uninformative. They could not explain why, and were ignored. Here, the "why" is answered. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: A key Shannon data-organizing tool is the confusion matrix. Its columns and rows are, respectively, labeled by "symbol sent" (event) and "symbol received" (outcome), such that matrix entries represent how often outcomes actually corresponded to events. Garner and Hake made their own version of the matrix, which deserves scrutiny, and is minutely examined here. Findings: The Garner-Hake confusion-matrix columns represent "stimulus categories", ranges of some physical stimulus attribute (usually intensity), and its rows represent "response categories" of the subject's identification of the attribute. The matrix entries thus show how often an identification empirically corresponds to an intensity, such that "outcomes" and "events" differ in kind (unlike Shannon's). Obtaining a true "information transmitted" therefore requires stimulus categorizations to be converted to hypothetical evoking stimuli, achievable (in principle) by relating categorization to sensation to intensity. But those relations are actually unknown, perhaps unknowable. Originality/value: The author achieves an important understanding: why "absolute identification" experiments do not illuminate sensory processes. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Bibliographic Details
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84889035080&origin=inward; http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/k-09-2012-0059; http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/10.1108/K-09-2012-0059; http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full-xml/10.1108/K-09-2012-0059; http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/K-09-2012-0059; https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/K-09-2012-0059/full/html
Emerald
Provide Feedback
Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know