An experimenter presents a subject with a series of tones. During each trial of the experiment, the experimenter signals the start of the trial by saying "ready," plays the tone, and then asks whether the subject heard it. The experiment begins with a fairly loud, clearly audible tone; on each subsequent trial, the loudness of the tone is reduced at a constant rate of 10 decibels until the subject does not hear the tone. The experimenter then starts a second series of trials with a tone too low to be heard and increases the volume gradually until the subject reports hearing the tone. What is the experimenter trying to measure?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The experimenter is trying to measure the absolute threshold, which is the minimum intensity at which a stimulus can be detected by the subject 50% of the time. This is done by decreasing and then increasing the loudness of the tone until the subject can just barely hear it.

An Experimenter Presents a Subject with a Series of Tones