Test-additivity experiments: different procedures, different results

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Abstract
Test-additivity experiments reveal the combination rules for separate contributions to visual detection. The measured degree of additivity and the shape and symmetry of the additivity function have been used to design or evaluate theories about the underlying visual pathways. However, all these characteristics can be distorted if measured by means of a variable-proportion procedure, in which the amount of one primary is held constant while the amount of the other is varied in order to measure threshold. A fixed-proportion procedure, in which the amounts of each primary are varied together in constant proportion in order to measure threshold, is preferable. These differences in results were found by using the method of adjustment but may also apply to the method of limits and other psychophysical procedures.
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