Cross-Modality Matching of Loudness to Brightness for Flashes of Varying Luminance and Duration

摘要

On occasion pilots must make judgments about the brightness of signal lights during night flight. The current study was directed to determining the relation between brightness and flash luminance and duration without use of a visual comparison stimulus. Each subject adjusted the intensity of a 1000 Hz tone presented monaurally by earphone until the subject was satisfied that the tone was as loud as the flash was bright. The results showed the intensity of the matching tone increased as a function of both flash luminance and duration. Agreement with Bloch's law was obtained. The critical duration of Bloch's law was shown to decrease as stimulus energy increased. No evidence of Broca-Sulzer maxima was obtained. The results were interpreted as indicating that the Broca-Sulzer effect may only be obtained when a visual comparison stimulus is presented. (Author)