Citation

Marks LE. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 1989; 15(3): 586-602.

Affiliation

John B. Pierce Foundation Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut 06519.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2527964

Abstract

Examined how pitch and loudness correspond to brightness. In the Experiment 1, 16 Ss identified which of 2 lights more resembled each of 16 tones; in Experiment 2, 8 of the same 16 Ss rated the similarity of lights to lights, tones to tones, and lights to tones. (1) Pitch and loudness both contributed to cross-modal similarity, but for most Ss pitch contributed more. (2) Individuals differed as to whether pitch or loudness contributed more; these differences were consistent across matching and similarity scaling. (3) Cross-modal similarity depended largely on relative stimulus values. (4) Multidimensional scaling revealed 2 perceptual dimensions, loudness and pitch, with brightness common to both. A simple quantitative model can describe the cross-modal comparisons, compatible with the view that perceptual similarity may be characterized through a malleable spatial representation that is multimodal as well as multidimensional.

Language: en