Psychophysical signal-detection theory is applied to recognition-memory performance. Old items in the test list are considered to be analogous to "signals" while new items are analogous to "noise only." The resulting fundamental assumptions describe the covert responses which mediate recognition-memory performance as varying continuously in strength. Covert responses to both old and new items are normally distributed with the distance between distributions representing learning and retention. The overt response to an item depends on whether or not S's covert response exceeds an arbitrary criterion. The available evidence suggests that S's criterion will be set such that he will most probably choose a number of items approximately equal to the number of old items in the test.

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