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Can mental fatigue be measured by weber's compass? Alfred Binet's answer on the value of aesthesiometry (tactile sensitivity) as an objective measure of mental fatigue

Nicolas, S., & Makowski, D.

European Yearbook of the History of Psychology, 2016

Before intelligence testing, Alfred Binet spent years looking for a physical measure of mental fatigue, and tactile sensitivity — the two-point threshold read off Weber's compass — was the leading candidate. This paper reconstructs those experiments and the conclusion Binet drew about what aesthesiometry could and could not measure.

• DOI: 10.1484/J.EYHP.5.112940
• Full text (PDF)

Keywords: History of Psychology · Psychometrics · Attention

Cite

Nicolas, S., & Makowski, D. (2016). Can mental fatigue be measured by weber's compass? Alfred Binet's answer on the value of aesthesiometry (tactile sensitivity) as an objective measure of mental fatigue. European Yearbook of the History of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.EYHP.5.112940

See also

• The protective role of long-term meditation on the decline of the executive component of attention in aging: a preliminary cross-sectional study — Sperduti, M., Makowski, D., & Piolino, P. (2016)
• Centenaire Ribot (première partie). La réception de l’œuvre de Théodule Ribot publiée chez l’éditeur Ladrange (1870-1873) — Nicolas, S., & Makowski, D. (2017)
• The distinctive role of executive functions in implicit emotion regulation — Sperduti, M., Makowski, D., Arcangeli, M., Wantzen, P., Zalla, T., Lemaire, S., Dokic, J., Pelletier, J., & Piolino, P. (2017)