2 Integration Psychophysics and Cognition

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter describes integration psychophysics and cognition. Integration psychophysics is concerned primarily with relations among sensations or perceptions. Its conceptual base is primarily cognitive within the mental realm. Classical psychophysics has a different conceptual base in relations between the physical stimulus and sensation. This difference in conceptual base leads to fundamental differences at every level of investigation. These differences derive mainly from the two kinds of laws that epitomize these two approaches to psychophysics: psychophysical law and psychocognitive law. In addition, the basic difference between classical psychophysics and integration psychophysics concerns where order and law are sought: psychophysical law in one case and psychocognitive law in the other. Classical psychophysics seeks order at the psycho-physical interface—that is, in relations between physical stimulus energy and psychological sensation. Integration psychophysics, in contrast, is epitomized by search for psychocognitive laws. Of foremost interest are laws that govern the integration of separate sensations into a unitary perception. Such laws typically lie at a stage beyond sensory processing within the mental realm.