Final answer:
The relationship in question is described by Weber's Law, which posits that the just-noticeable difference in any given stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus. It informs our understanding of how sensory perception works, in that perceived changes are relative to the existing stimulus level.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question refers to Weber's Law, which states that the perceived change in a stimulus is proportional to the size of the change measured as a proportion of the original stimulus. This law suggests that the just-noticeable difference for an intensity level of a stimulus is not a fixed quantity, but rather is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus. For instance, when lifting weights, if you hold a 10kg weight, the additional amount of weight that you need to add to notice a difference would be larger than if you were already holding a 1kg weight. This principle applies to various sensory modalities, such as vision, hearing, and touch.
Weber's Law implies that our sensory systems perceive changes in proportion to the existing level of stimulus. Thus, smaller changes in large stimuli might be less perceptible than the same absolute change in smaller stimuli. This concept has applications in fields such as auditory perception, where the proportional change in pitch or loudness is crucial in distinguishing sounds.