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In the branch of experimental psychology focused on sense, sensation, and perception, which is called psychophysics, a just-noticeable difference or JND is the amount something must be changed in order for a difference to be noticeable, detectable at least half the time. [1]
Weber found that the just noticeable difference (JND) between two weights was approximately proportional to the weights. Thus, if the weight of 105 g can (only just) be distinguished from that of 100 g, the JND (or differential threshold) is 5 g.
The just-noticeable difference is not a fixed quantity; rather, it varies depending on the intensity of the stimuli and the specific sense being tested. [17] According to Weber's Law, the just-noticeable difference for any stimulus is a constant proportion, regardless of variations in intensity. [18]
His experiments were intended to determine the absolute and difference, or differential, thresholds. Weber was able to define absolute and difference threshold statistically, which led to the establishment of Weber's Law and the concept of just noticeable difference to describe threshold perception of stimuli.
Weber described the just-noticeable difference or jnd as follows: “in observing the disparity between things that are compared, we perceive not the difference between the things, but the ratio of this difference to the magnitude of things compared.” In other words, we are able to distinguish the relative difference, not the absolute ...
His most memorable contribution to the field of experimental psychology is the suggestion that judgments of sensory differences are relative and not absolute. This relativity is expressed in "Weber's Law," which suggests that the just-noticeable difference or jnd is a constant proportion of the ongoing stimulus level. Weber's Law is stated as ...
However, the difference in sizes between apples A and C is large enough that you can discern that C is larger than A without a sensitive scale. In psychophysical terms, the size difference between A and C is above the just noticeable difference ('jnd') while the size differences between A and B and B and C are below the jnd.
The formula from O'Shaughnessy's book can be expressed with different logarithmic bases: = (+) = (+). The corresponding inverse expressions are = = (). There were published curves and tables on psychophysical pitch scales since Steinberg's 1937 [3] curves based on just-noticeable differences of pitch.