Definition of stevens' power law Stevens' power law
We found 2 definitions of stevens' power law from 2 different sources.
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What does stevens' power law mean?
WordNet
Noun |
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| stevens' power law - (psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to a power of the stimulus intensity | ||
| Stevens' law, power law, Stevens' power law | ||
| law of nature, law the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system; "he studied law at Yale" | ||
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Wikipedia 
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Stevens' power law is a proposed relationship between the magnitude of a physical stimulus and the intensity or strength that people feel.
Most people think that it describes a wider range of sensations than Weber-Fechner law. But critics argue that the validity of the law is not sure.
The theory is named after psychophysicist Stanley Smith Stevens (1906–1973). Although the idea of a power law had been suggested by 19th century researchers, Stevens is credited with reviving the law and publishing a body of psychophysical data to support it in 1957.
The general form of the law is
where formula_3 is the magnitude of the physical stimulus, formula_4 is the psychophysical function capturing sensation (the subjective size of the stimulus), formula_1 is an exponent that depends on the type of stimulation and formula_6 is a proportionality constant that depends on the type of stimulation and the units used.
The table to the right lists the exponents reported by Stevens.
