rom a physiologist pressing compass points on skin to a theory of decisions under noise. Dates are of publication unless noted.

1834	Weber publishes his experiments on touch and weight discrimination in Latin (Weber, 1834); the constant fraction becomes Weber's law.
1850	Fechner, by his own account, conceives a mathematical law linking stimulus and sensation on the morning of 22 October.
1860	Fechner, Elemente der Psychophysik (Fechner, 1860): the methods of limits, constant stimuli and adjustment, and Fechner's law.
1868	Donders times "mental processes" by subtracting a simple reaction from one that needs a choice (English translation 1969). Try it.
1889	Franz Müller-Lyer publishes the arrow-and-fins figure (Müller-Lyer, 1889). Try it.
1890	William James, The Principles of Psychology (James, 1890).
1927	Thurstone: the law of comparative judgment; judgments compare noisy internal values.
1935	Stroop: interference between reading and naming colours, still a workhorse of attention research.
1952	Hick: choice reaction time grows with the information in the choice.
1954	Peterson, Birdsall & Fox publish the theory of signal detectability; Tanner & Swets apply it to human vision.
1956	Miller: "the magical number seven, plus or minus two", on limits of absolute judgment and memory span.
1961	Swets asks, "Is there a sensory threshold?"
1962	Cornsweet describes the staircase method. Try one.
1966	Green & Swets, Signal Detection Theory and Psychophysics.
1983	Watson & Pelli: QUEST, a Bayesian adaptive method for thresholds.
2005	Macmillan & Creelman, second edition of the standard user's guide to detection theory.

Sources

1. Weber (1834). De pulsu, resorptione, auditu et tactu: annotationes anatomicae et physiologicae. Leipzig: Koehler.
2. Fechner (1860). Elemente der Psychophysik. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel.
3. Donders (1969). On the speed of mental processes. Acta Psychologica. doi:10.1016/0001-6918(69)90065-1
4. Müller-Lyer (1889). Optische Urteilstäuschungen. Archiv für Anatomie und Physiologie, Physiologische Abteilung, Supplement, 263–270. The paper that introduced the figure; no DOI. Scan of the 1889 supplement at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35372625
5. James (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Henry Holt.
6. Thurstone (1927). A law of comparative judgment. Psychological Review. doi:10.1037/h0070288
7. Stroop (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology. doi:10.1037/h0054651
8. Hick (1952). On the Rate of Gain of Information. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. doi:10.1080/17470215208416600
9. Peterson, Birdsall & Fox (1954). The theory of signal detectability. Transactions of the IRE Professional Group on Information Theory. doi:10.1109/TIT.1954.1057460
10. Tanner & Swets (1954). A decision-making theory of visual detection. Psychological Review. doi:10.1037/h0058700
11. Miller (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review. doi:10.1037/h0043158
12. Swets (1961). Is There a Sensory Threshold?. Science. doi:10.1126/science.134.3473.168
13. Cornsweet (1962). The Staircase-Method in Psychophysics. The American Journal of Psychology. doi:10.2307/1419876
14. Green & Swets (1966). Signal Detection Theory and Psychophysics. New York: Wiley.
15. Watson & Pelli (1983). Quest: A Bayesian adaptive psychometric method. Perception & Psychophysics. doi:10.3758/BF03202828
16. Macmillan & Creelman (2005). Detection Theory: A User's Guide (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Try it yourself. [playful] Small toys on the toy shelf that show this in action:   • the line judge — find your Weber fraction for line length   • the reaction box — Donders' simple and go/no-go reactions   • the Stroop box — name the ink, not the word   • the arrow lines — an illusion that knowing about does not switch off

see also