Imagine yourself in a dark classroom reading PowerPoint slides. If an audience member were to check the internet using her cell phone and causing her screen to light up, chances are that many people would notice the change in illumination in the classroom. However, if the same thing happened in a brightly lit classroom during a discussion, very few people would notice. The cell phone brightness does not change, but its ability to be detected as a change in illumination varies dramatically between the two contexts. This is an example of ________.
A) Merkel's theory
B) the law of thermoception
C)the principle of transduction
D) Weber's law

Question

Imagine yourself in a dark classroom reading PowerPoint slides. If an audience member were to check the internet using her cell phone and causing her screen to light up, chances are that many people would notice the change in illumination in the classroom. However, if the same thing happened in a brightly lit classroom during a discussion, very few people would notice. The cell phone brightness does not change, but its ability to be detected as a change in illumination varies dramatically between the two contexts. This is an example of ________.
A) Merkel's theory
B) the law of thermoception 
C)the principle of transduction
D) Weber's law

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This scenario exemplifies Weber's law, which states that the noticeable difference in a stimulus is proportional to the intensity of the original stimulus. In a dark room, a small light source like a cell phone screen is easily noticeable, but in a brightly lit room, the same light source is much less noticeable because the initial intensity of ambient light is much higher.

Imagine Yourself in a Dark Classroom Reading PowerPoint Slides