21.1.2  Psychophysical Measurements of Sensation Magnitude Employ Standardized Protocols

The lasting importance of Fechner’s work was the development of formal quantitative methods for measuring sensory performance and mathematical techniques to analyze them.【费希纳工作（成果）的长期重要性在于——开发了测量感官表现的正式定量方法和分析它们的数学技术。】 Three of his methods are still widely used, either exactly as he formulated them or in a modified form:【他（开发）的三种方法仍然被广泛使用，要么是完全按照他的表述进行，要么是以修改的形式使用：】

（1）the method of constant stimuli, in which a fixed set of stimuli is presented repeatedly to obtain a statistical characterization of the behavior associated with each stimulus;【（1）恒定刺激法，其中一组固定的刺激被重复出现/呈现，以获得与每个刺激相关的行为的统计特征;】

（2）the method of limits, described earlier;【（2）前面描述的极限法;】{见21.1.1 心理物理定律支配着对刺激（源）强度的感知}

and（3）the method of adjustment or reproduction, in which a subject adjusts a second stimulus to match or reproduce the intensity of the first one.【以及（3）调整或再现法，其中受试者调整第二个刺激以匹配或再现/重现第一个刺激的强度。】

The next major methodological and conceptual developments in psychophysics came almost a century later when S. S. Stevens introduced the technique of magnitude estimation, whereby subjects use a numerical scale to rate the intensity of the sensations experienced by stimuli of different amplitude（Figure 21–3）.【心理物理学的下一个重大方法论和概念发展发生在近一个世纪后，当时 S. S. Stevens 引入了幅度（级别）估计技术{等级评分法}，即——受试者使用一种数字量表来评估/评价所经历的由不同幅度刺激引起的感觉强度（图 21-3）。】

Verbal reports of subjective experience are widely used because they are usually reliable and repeatable.【主观体验的口头报告被广泛使用，因为它们通常是可靠的且可重复的。】 Reliability is assessed by correlations between observers rating the same stimuli; repeatability is measured by correlations between responses from the same subject to similar stimuli.【可靠性是通过对相同刺激进行评分的观察者之间的相关性来评估的；可重复性是通过同一受试者对相似刺激的反应之间的相关性来衡量的。】

Stevens generalized the method of direct verbal reporting by defining four scales of measurement— the nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales—and specifying appropriate methods for analyzing data of each type.【Stevens通过定义四种测量尺度（名义尺度、序数尺度、区间尺度和比率尺度）并指定分析每种类型数据的适当方法，推广（泛化）了直接口头报告的方法。】

On nominal scales items have names but not rank; examples are names of colors, tastes, and smells.【在名义量表上，项目（条目/条款）有名称但没有等级；例如，是一些颜色、味道和气味的名称。】

On ordinal scales items are ranked with a logical range and ordered relationship to each other, but the intervals between them cannot be compared meaningfully.【在顺序量表上，项目（条目/条款）按逻辑范围和彼此之间的有序关系进行排名，但无法有意义地比较它们之间的间隔。】 Verbal descriptors of pain intensity are an example of an ordinal scale.【疼痛强度的口头描述是顺序量表的一个例子。】 When a clinician says, “On a scale from 1 to 10 in which 10 is the worst imaginable pain, how would you rate your pain?” there is no suggestion that the pain associated with an 8 is twice as intense as the pain associated with a 4 or that the difference between 5 and 6 equals the difference between 1 and 2.【当一位临床医生说，“在 1 到 10 的范围（尺度）内，其中 10 是可以想象到的最严重的疼痛，你会如何评估/评价你的疼痛？”没有迹象表明与 8 相关的疼痛是与 4 相关的疼痛的两倍，或者 5 和 6 之间的（疼痛）差异等于 1 和 2 之间的（疼痛）差异。】

On interval scales distances but not ratios between values have meaning.【在等距量表上，是值与值之间的距离（而不是）比率有意义。】 Counts of the number of stimuli delivered in a session or estimates of the position of an object on a grid map are examples of interval scales.【包括在一段阶段中传递的刺激数量进行计数或估计一个对象在网格图上的位置是等距量表的示例。】

In ratio scales the concepts of rank, interval, and ratio all have valid meanings.【在比率量表中，等级/级别、间隔/区间 和 比率/比值的概念都具有有效的含义。】 Estimates of the perceived intensity of a stimulus are treated as ratio scales.【对感知到的一个刺激的强度的估计被视为比率量表。】 Subjects are instructed to assign a number proportional to the perceived intensity when a stimulus is detected, and to report “zero” when they feel no stimulus.【当检测到刺激时，被试（被测试者）被指示（教导/告知/要求）要分配一个与感知强度成比例的数字（值），当他们没有感觉到刺激时要报告“零”（值）。】

Subjects typically choose their own numerical scale within a session.【受试者通常在一次会话中选择自己的数字量表。】 The values measured during an experiment are then normalized to allow comparisons of stimulus ratings between subjects.【然后将实验期间测得的值进行标准化，以允许比较受试者之间的刺激评级。】

These scales permeate modern statistics and are used widely beyond the field of experimental psychology for which they were developed.【这些量表渗透到现代统计学中，并被广泛用于它们所针对的实验心理学领域之外。】

译自 Principles of Neural Science, Fifth Edition（Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz etc.）