Size judgment: The presence of a standard increases the exponent of the power law

Abstract

Ss judged the size of circles by the methods of magnitude estimation and magnitude production, with or without a standard figure present. The presence of the standard raised the exponent of the power law. The effect was largely independent of the position of the standard in the range of stimuli. It is argued that the standard's effect was not mediated by a difference in apparent size between perceived and remembered standards, a change in Ss' response strategies, a decrease in sequential dependencies, or other previously identified bias effects. © 1974 Psychonomic Society, Inc.