The Yes-No Experiment

Bibliographic Data

ID23618725
AuthorsMichael J Hautus (0000-0003-2936-9023), Neil A Macmillan, C Douglas Creelman
Year2021
Pages3-26
Publication date2021-08-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueDetection Theory (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781003203636-2
OpenAlexW3192120290
ISBN9781003203636
LanguageEN
Citations received4

The results of a yes-no or single-interval discrimination experiment can be described by a hit and a false-alarm rate, which in turn can be reduced to a single measure of sensitivity. Good measures can be written as the difference between the hit and false-alarm rates when both are appropriately transformed. The sensitivity measure proposed by detection theory, d′ , uses the normal-distribution z -transformation. The primary rationale for d′ as a measure of accuracy is that it is roughly invariant when response bias is manipulated; simpler measures such as proportion correct do not have this property. The use of d′ implies a model in which the two possible stimulus classes lead to normal distributions differing in mean, and the observer decides which class occurred by comparing an observation with an adjustable criterion.

Educational Leadership and Practices · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology

Tools

Open DOI