How repeatable are Stevens's power law exponents for individual subjects?

Abstract

Magnitude estimations of apparent length and apparent area were obtained for the same group of Ss over successive experimental sessions. Session-to-session correlations between individual exponents on a given continuum were positive and reliable for successive 24-h intersession intervals, but were not significant for a 1-year interval. In a second experiment on judgments of apparent area, when each stimulus was judged only once per session, the session-to-session correlation was reliable only when the intersession interval was zero. Six other intervals, ranging from 1 to 77 days, yielded nonsignificant correlations. When the constraints exerted by repeated judging are removed, the location of S's exponent in a distribution of exponents is stable only for brief intervals. Thus the differences among exponents cannot reflect any persisting attributes of Ss' sensory or judgmental processes. © 1971 Psychonomic Journals, Inc.