Development of a computerized 2D rating scale for continuous and simultaneous evaluation of two dimensions of a sensory stimulus

Marie-Eve Hoeppli; Taylor S Thurston; Mathieu Roy; Alan R Light; Markus Amann; Richard H Gracely; Petra Schweinhardt

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1127699

Development of a computerized 2D rating scale for continuous and simultaneous evaluation of two dimensions of a sensory stimulus

Front Psychol. 2023 Mar 3:14:1127699. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1127699. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Marie-Eve Hoeppli^{1

2

3}, Taylor S Thurston⁴, Mathieu Roy⁵, Alan R Light⁶, Markus Amann^{6

7}, Richard H Gracely⁸, Petra Schweinhardt^{1

9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Alan Edwards Center for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
² Pediatric Pain Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
³ Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
⁴ Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
⁵ Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
⁶ Department of Anesthesiology, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
⁷ VAMC, Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
⁸ Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry, Center for Neurosensory Disorders, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
⁹ Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹⁰ Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹¹ Integrative Spinal Research, Department of Chiropractic Medicine, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Introduction: One-dimensional rating scales are widely used in research and in the clinic to assess individuals' perceptions of sensory stimuli. Although these scales provide essential knowledge of stimulus perception, their limitation to one dimension hinders our understanding of complex stimuli.

Methods: To allow improved investigation of complex stimuli, a two-dimensional scale based on the one-dimensional Gracely Box Scale was developed and tested in healthy participants on a visual and an auditory task (rating changes in brightness and size of circles and rating changes in frequency and sound pressure of sounds, which was compared to ratings on one-dimensional scales). Before performing these tasks, participants were familiarized with the intensity descriptors of the two-dimensional scale by completing two tasks. First, participants sorted the descriptors based on their judgment of the intensity of the descriptors. Second, participants evaluated the intensity of the descriptors by pressing a button for the duration they considered matching the intensity of the descriptors or squeezing a hand grip dynamometer as strong as they considered matching the intensity of the descriptors.

Results: Results from these tasks confirmed the order of the descriptors as displayed on the original rating scale. Results from the visual and auditory tasks showed that participants were able to rate changes in the physical attributes of visual or auditory stimuli on the two-dimensional scale as accurately as on one-dimensional scales.

Discussion: These results support the use of a two-dimensional scale to simultaneously report multiple dimensions of complex stimuli.

Keywords: computerized scale; fatigue; pain; rating; sensory measurement; two-dimensional scale.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute grant HL-116579 (MA), McGill University Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Award, McGill University Graduate Program for International Travel Funding, and Quebec Pain Research Network Trainee Travel Award (M-EH).