As Jesse closes her eyes, Joe puts two tiny boxes in Jesse's hands. In her right hand, the box is empty, but the box in her left hand contains two small Hershey's kisses. Jesse has no problem picking the box in her left hand as the heavier of the two. However, Joe next takes two equal 2-pound bags of candy and adds the two small kisses to one of the bags. Then Joe puts a bag of candy in each of her hands and Jesse is unable to pick which one has the extra kisses. This inability to perceive the weight in the second situation can be explained by
A)sensory adaptation
B)Weber's law
C)absolute threshold
D)different tolerance levels

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Weber's law explains this phenomenon, stating that the noticeable difference between two stimuli is proportional to the magnitude of the stimuli. In the case of the tiny boxes, the difference is significant relative to their size. However, when the kisses are added to the 2-pound bags, the proportional difference is too small for Jesse to perceive.

As Jesse Closes Her Eyes, Joe Puts Two Tiny Boxes