What is the distance between an owl and jeans?
It is faster to
decide that 8 is larger than 2, than to decide that 8 is larger than 7. This phenomenon is called the distance effect. These simple yet very robust observations lead researchers to suggest that numbers are represented on a ‘mental number line’, and that the larger two numbers are, the closer they are on that line, making them less discriminable. Thus, number discrimination is said to obey Weber’s law. Namely, there is a linear correlation between the ratios of two numbers (small divided by large number) and the time it takes to discriminate them.
The distance effect was found for other magnitudes, like groups of dots, line lengths, names and pictures of objects, and more. But do all these magnitudes comply with Weber’s law, or can they be explained by different psychophysical laws? This is an important distinction to make, because different psychophysical laws can suggest different ways of processing. By studying the plot obtained when comparing different magnitudes, we hope to gain insight regarding the internal division of the magnitude processing system.
