psychophysics

1 9.7

Study of how physical changes like light or sound make us notice them

noun
/ˌsaɪkoʊˈfɪksɪs/

Specialized

: psicofísica

There's also a need to explore what Livermore's Davidson calls the psychophysics of the artificial retina, in order to discover whether the brain will have to be taught how to see again, and how much it will be able to interpret and learn.

Examples

Researchers in psychophysics measure how loud a sound must be for a person to notice a difference in volume.
But Howard, as far as I know, psychophysics is about measuring things.
Psychophysics is the study of the workers' perception of physical stress.

Academic text (2006)
We have actually developed a nice psychophysics paradigm where we can generate psychometric functions of perception before we adapt.
The field of psychophysics investigates how changes in light intensity affect our perception of brightness.
Experiments in psychophysics combine quantifiable physical stimuli with human sensory responses to understand perception.

Surface Forms

psychophysics singular

psychophysics plural

Morphology

psychophysics = physics (semi-transparent) = psycho + physics

The term is structurally clear as psycho- plus physics, but its scientific meaning is specialized and not fully predictable from the parts alone.

Etymology

Psychophysics joins psycho- 'mind' and physics 'the physical world'. It studies how real things like light or sound become sensations or experiences in the mind. So, psychophysics is about measuring the link between a physical cause and what we notice.