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Scale-invariance as a unifying psychological principle
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Chater, Nick and Brown, G. D. A. (Gordon D. A.). (1999) Scale-invariance as a unifying psychological principle. Cognition, Vol.69 (No.3). B17-B24. ISSN 0010-0277
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00066-3
Abstract
How can the classical psychological laws be explained and unified? It is proposed here that scale-invariance is a unifying principle. Distributions of many environmental magnitudes are observed to be scale invariant; that is, the statistical structure of the world remains the same at different measurement scales [Mandelbrot, B., 1982. The Fractal Geometry of Nature (2nd Edn.). W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, CA; Bak, P., 1997. How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK]. We hypothesise that the perceptual-motor system reflects and preserves these scale invariances. This allows derivation of several of the most widely applicable psychological laws governing perception and action across domains and species (Weber's, Stevens', Fitts' and Pieron's Laws). We suggest that these fundamental laws reflect accommodation of the perceptuo-motor system to the scale-invariant physical world and therefore have a common foundation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology Q Science > QC Physics |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Psychology |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Scaling laws (Statistical physics), Weber-Fechner law, Psychophysics, Perception, Motor ability |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Cognition |
| Publisher: | Elsevier Science Inc |
| ISSN: | 0010-0277 |
| Official Date: | 1 January 1999 |
| Volume: | Vol.69 |
| Number: | No.3 |
| Number of Pages: | 8 |
| Page Range: | B17-B24 |
| Identification Number: | 10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00066-3 |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
| Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), Leverhulme Trust (LT) |
| Grant number: | R000236216 (ESRC), 7048PSA (LT) |
| URI: | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/14720 |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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