Another look at the ‘new psychophysics’

The ‘new psychophysics' is reviewed in terms of four issues: (1) the adequacy of the power law as an empirical description, (2) the validity of this law, (3) what is being measured and (4) the theoretical implications of the power law. Each issue is considered in turn with an emphasis on the theoretical implications since it is thought that this approach to psychophysical judgement can best be assessed in this respect. It is found that there are critical weaknesses in this approach to psychophysics.