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Glite Dictionary
psychophysicist

psychophysicist

1 9.9
A scientist who studies how physical things like light or sound change what people sense
  • noun
  • /ˌsaɪkoʊˈfɪzɪsɪst/
  • Specialized
: psicofísico
  • During the conference, the psychophysicist presented findings on how light intensity influences perception.

Examples

  • The strategy employed in this experimental effort parallels the strategies that were pioneered by visual psychophysicists in their attempt to discern the functional roles of the p- and m-cell pathways.

    Academic text (1997)

  • A psychophysicist studies how different sounds can affect a person's mood and behavior.

  • Many companies hire a psychophysicist to understand how consumers react to their advertising stimuli.

Surface Forms

psychophysicist singular
psychophysicists plural

Morphology

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

The word is regularly formed by adding '-ist' to the technical noun 'psychophysics' to mean a person specializing in that field.

Etymology

Psychophysicist joins psycho- meaning 'mind' and physic- meaning 'physical', just like in psychology and physics. So a psychophysicist studies how physical things like light or sound affect people's minds.