Psychology 205

Perception

30 January 03

Day 04

   
          Signal Detection Theory

Four categories of stimuli & responses:
hits, misses, false alarms, & correct rejections
Two aspects measured:  
Criterion  ß         bias, mental set
Sensitivity d’ physiological attunement
Assumptions:
1. normal distribution (of noise)
properties of "normality"
means & standard deviations; z scores
2. signal with unchanging strength
3. fixed decision criterion
Some examples, and with criterion shifts:
1. unbiased,              Y=N       in “middle”
2. "conservative"      Y< N           to  right
 
3. "risky"         Y> N
 
     to left
 Signal Detection Methods
Four categories of responses

   
 2X2 matrix

z table

double graph
with lines

   
 Two aspects to be measured from a 2X2 
matrix of data 
in Signal Detection Theory:
  
Criterion  ß          bias   
mental set

Sensitivity d’  physiological attunement

   
Assumptions:

1. normal distribution (of neural noise)
relatively long digression into:
properties of "normality"
means & standard deviations
z scores

2. signal with unchanging strength

3. fixed decision criterion
   
 Distributions

bar graph

   
 frequency
polygon
   
 1

3 properties
   
axes

   
new ordinate
   
 percentiles are located along the
distribution

one measures where one is by what

is called the standard deviation (SD)
   
        What is the standard deviation?

General idea:
Find the mean.
Take all values in the distribution and add up the
difference between the mean and each value
Find average.

Actual calculation:
Square the differences, average them, and take the square root
of the average. 
Purpose: emphasizes the larger differences

                 YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW THIS
   
SATs, GREs
Mean =
500, SD
= 100
IQ,
Mean = 100,
SD = 16

SDs below standard deviations

   
mean above the mean
from handout

   
 z of 1.0 = 1 SD above the mean,
z of 2.0 = 2 SDs above the mean,
z of -1.5 = 1.5 SDs below the mean, etc.

whole distribution
normalized to Find area of 1- that is the
have an area of α percentile
   
1.0
check out
the table

   
 go from zs to
percentiles

   
 9 values to
be known

the lower
half of the
    distribution
 Signal
Detectio
n Theory

   
Assumptions:

1. normal distribution (of noise)
properties of "normality"
means & standard deviations 
z scores

2. signal with unchanging strength

3. fixed decision criterion

   
 add signal to the noise
and it moves the entire
distribution to the right

   
Assumptions:

1. normal distribution (of noise)
properties of "normality"
means & standard deviations
z scores

2. signal with unchanging strength

3. fixed decision criterion

   
 responds “no” responds “yes”

   
   
 What is the
relationship of
2x2 table to
plots?

   
   
 Computational purpose of Signal Detection Theory is 
to measure d’ (sensitivity)

procedure: 
Go from numbers in a 2X2 table to hypothetical 
noise and signal + noise distributions.

From those distributions, calculate d’
will do later 
   
must be aware of possible biases,
criterion shifts:

1. unbiased             Y=N       in “middle”
2. "conservative"    Y< N           to  right
3. "risky"               Y> N      to left

   
 observer observer always
always says no says yes

unbiase
d

   
 no yes

   
 no yes

   
Question:
why would one’s criterion ever vary?

         the theory asks that one consider the

relative costs of false alarms and misses, and/or

relative benefits of hits and correct rejections

   
 miss

false
alar sometimes
m there are very
real differences
   
 why fire
departments
always say
“yes”

   
 no yes

   
 How to calculate sensitivity:

d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­
  
z [M/(H+M)]

one of the two formula to know in this course

   
   
   
 d'

   
CASE
1

   
 d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­ z [M/(H+M)]

d' =  z [84/(84+16)] ­ z[16/(84+16)]

   
 d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­ z [M/(H+M)]

d' =  z [84/(84+16)] ­ z[16/(84+16)]

d' =  z[.84] ­ z[.16]       see table
  

   
 d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­ z [M/(H+M)]

d' =  z [84/(84+16)] ­ z[16/(84+16)]

d' =  z[.84] ­ z[.16]       see table
  
d' =  1.00 ­ (­1.00)

d' =  2.00   ­­> the mean of the signal + noise 
distribution is two SDs above the mean of the noise 
distribution; the signal strength is 2 SDs of the 
ambient noise in the nervous system
   
 CASE 2

CASE 1

   
d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­ z [M/(H+M)]

d' =  z [98/(98+2)] ­ z[50/(50+50)]

   
d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­ z [M/(H+M)]

d' =  z [98/(98+2)] ­ z[50/(50+50)]

d' =  z [.98] ­ z[.50]

d' =  2.0 ­ 0.0  = 2.0

   
 CASE 3

CASE 1 CASE 2

   
d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­ z [M/(H+M)]

d' =  z [69/(69+31)] ­ z[7/(7+93)]

   
 d' =  z [CR/(CR+FA)] ­ z [M/(H+M)]

d' =  z [69/(69+31)] ­ z[7/(7+93)]

d' =  z [.69] ­ z[.07]*              see table

d' =  .50 ­ (­1.50) = 2.00

       *not a value you need to know
 CASE 1 CASE 2 CASE 3

all have d’s =

2.00
same sensitivity,
  different criteria
 
For the 1st prelim:

1. understand the 2x2 table
2. understand the graph pair (N & S+N)
3. be able to draw a graph pair
4. know the 9 value pairs in the table
5. be able to use the formula
    (go back and forth between the table and the graphs)

Caveat: the criterion does not have to be between the 
means of the noise and the signal + noise distributions
   
advanced
topic:

If these were
noise and
signal + noise
distributions,
would the d’
in each be the
same?

   
advanced
topic:

d’ ~ 1.0
If these were
noise and
signal + noise
distributions,
would the d’
in each be the
same?

no, the
standard
deviations d’ ~ 3.0
are smaller
in the lower
set

   
                     Signal Detection Theory

Four categories of stimuli & responses:
hits, misses, false alarms, & correct rejections
Two aspects measured:  
Criterion  ß        bias, mental set
Sensitivity d’       physiological attunement ­­> our major
Assumptions:          interest
1. normal distribution (of noise)
properties of "normality"
means & standard deviations; z scores
2. signal with unchanging strength
3. fixed decision criterion
Some examples, and with criterion shifts:
1. unbiased               Y=N       in “middle”      ­­> Case 1
2. "conservative"      Y< N           to  right             ­­> Case 2
   
      3. "risky"         Y> N      to left                 ­­> Case 3