CHOICE OF FIRST VARIABLES FOR SINGLE AND REPEATED MULTIPLE ESTIMATES OF LOUDNESS

121 Os made repeated multiple numerical estimates of loudness on octave band noise from 600-1200 Hz. A standard of 65 db. was called 1. Different groups judged variables 5, 10, 20, 30, and 35 db. more intense than the standard in different orders. On a log-log plot the line connecting the median of the very 1st estimates of the variable 5 db. above the standard to the standard had a slope of .60, reliably greater than the slope of .37 for the variable of 35 db. The slope of the straight line through the standard fitted to the medians of the 1st 5 estimates of the group starting with the variable of 5 db. was .34, reliably smaller than the slope of .40 of the group starting with the variable of 35 db. The reduction in slope from .60-.34 produced a reliable quadratic term. The function subsequently straightened out, but the slope did not change reliably. The 1st 1 or 2 estimates are interpreted in terms of response bias; subsequent estimates used numbers of the same order of size as those used in the 1st estimates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.