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PSYCHOPHYSICAL SCALES OF THE ODOR INTENSITY OF AMYL ACETATE
Author(s) -
Engen Trygg,
Lindström Carl Olof
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1963.tb01303.x
Subject(s) - odor , stimulus (psychology) , power function , scaling , psychology , psychophysics , intensity (physics) , chemistry , audiology , statistics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , cognitive psychology , optics , physics , geometry , perception , medicine , neuroscience
The paper presents psychophysical scales of amyl acetate in benzyl benzoate sniffed from cotton. Four scales obtained by direct scaling procedures, ratio estimation and magnitude estimation, yield functions of the form R = kS n , with n ranging from 0.39 to 0.57. These data support earlier findings that the intensity of smell is a negatively accelerated function of stimulus intensity. In addition, comparison of magnitude and category scales indicate that the subjective intensity of smell is a prothetic continuum. Finally, further analysis of subjective ratios as a function of stimulus ratios again shows that ( a ) the magnitude scale is a ratio scale and ( b ) the function obtained conforms to the power law.