What does Weber's Law primarily deal with in terms of sensory perception?

Weber's Law primarily addresses difference thresholds, which are the minimum differences in stimulation that a person can detect 50% of the time. This law states that the change needed to notice a difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus. For example, if you have a weight of 100 grams, a weight increase of 2 grams may be noticeable; however, if you have a weight of 1,000 grams, an increase of 20 grams would be required to perceive a difference. This means that the ability to detect a difference in stimulus increases in relation to the size of the original stimulus.

Understanding Weber's Law is crucial because it highlights how our perception of change is relative rather than absolute, indicating a fundamental characteristic of sensory processing. The other concepts do not deal specifically with the proportional aspect of sensory perception that Weber's Law emphasizes. For instance, absolute thresholds refer to the smallest level of stimulus intensity that can be detected, which does not directly relate to the comparative nature of Weber's Law. Top-down processing is about how our perceptions are influenced by knowledge and expectations, while psychophysical relations involve the general study of how physical stimuli relate to psychological experiences but do not specifically define the relation stated in Weber's Law.