The effects of duration, area, and background intensity on the visual intensity difference threshold given by the forced-choice procedure: Derivations from a statistical decision model for sensory discrimination

Treisman, Michel; Leshowitz, Barry

doi:10.3758/bf03210099

Cited by 45 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Barlow & Levick, 1969; and also by combining the results of Dodge et al, 1968, andof Hagins, 1965). Treisman and Leshowitz (1969) extended the model of Treisman (1966) to pedestal procedures which are equivalent to the present procedure. The essence of the model is that a single ganglion cell delivers a number of sensory messages, each consisting of a number of spikes, which are positively correlated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Hence, Treisman's model is not very useful in explaining the results of our experiments. Moreover, the linear transducer implied in the model (Treisman & Leshowitz, 1969) is not likely to be applicable in our experiments (Thijssen, 1969).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Leshowitz et al, 1968). Moreover, in the interpretation of the data it is often assumed that the transducer function is equal for background light and flash light (Treisman, 1966;Treisman & Leshowitz, 1969). The latter assumption is unlikely, as can be concluded both from psychophysical and electrophysiological evidence (Craik, 1940;Stevens & Stevens, 1963;Sakman & Creutzfeld, 1969).…”

Section: Ttdepartment Of Medical Physics Nijmegenmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential luminance sensitivity of the human visual system

Thijssen

Vendrik

1971

Perception & Psychophysics

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Ttdepartment Of Medical Physics Nijmegenmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Differential luminance sensitivity of the human visual system

Thijssen

Vendrik

1971

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…Previous studies have tested these models by comparing observers' performance under various conditions in 2AFC tasks and other designs (9)(10)(11). However, different tasks put different demands on poorly understood factors such as attention and memory, so these comparisons can be difficult to interpret (12).…”

Section: Decision Making In 2afc Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the "double detection model," the observer makes independent decisions about which signal was shown in the first stimulus interval and which was shown in the second interval (9,10). When the observer judges that both intervals contain the same signal (which does not happen in a 2AFC task), the observer guesses.…”

Section: Decision Making In 2afc Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classification images reveal decision variables and strategies in forced choice tasks

Pritchett

Murray

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Despite decades of research, there is still uncertainty about how people make simple decisions about perceptual stimuli. Most theories assume that perceptual decisions are based on decision variables, which are internal variables that encode task-relevant information. However, decision variables are usually considered to be theoretical constructs that cannot be measured directly, and this often makes it difficult to test theories of perceptual decision making. Here we show how to measure decision variables on individual trials, and we use these measurements to test theories of perceptual decision making more directly than has previously been possible. We measure classification images, which are estimates of templates that observers use to extract information from stimuli. We then calculate the dot product of these classification images with the stimuli to estimate observers' decision variables. Finally, we reconstruct each observer's "decision space," a map that shows the probability of the observer's responses for all values of the decision variables. We use this method to examine decision strategies in two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) tasks, for which there are several competing models. In one experiment, the resulting decision spaces support the difference model, a classic theory of 2AFC decisions. In a second experiment, we find unexpected decision spaces that are not predicted by standard models of 2AFC decisions, and that suggest intrinsic uncertainty or soft thresholding. These experiments give new evidence regarding observers' strategies in 2AFC tasks, and they show how measuring decision variables can answer long-standing questions about perceptual decision making.any current questions about human cognition are related to how people make decisions, including decisions based on perceptual information. For example, how do we decide whether a search target is present in a cluttered display? How do we decide when to respond in a task where both speed and accuracy are important? How do we judge which of two signals is present in a discrimination task?Most theories of perceptual decision making rely on the notion of a decision variable, a quantity that the observer calculates from the stimulus to summarize task-relevant information, e.g., the probability that a faint signal is present in a detection task (1). Some theories of decision making are very simple, e.g., the observer gives one response if the decision variable is greater than a fixed criterion, and another response if the decision variable is less than the criterion. Other theories use more complex decision rules. Testing theories of decision making would be much easier if we had access to observers' decision variables, but these are usually thought of as theoretical constructs that cannot be measured psychophysically. Here we show that in some tasks, it is possible to estimate decision variables on individual trials, and this provides a very direct way of testing theories of perceptual decision making. We use this method to examine the long-sta...

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Application of signal detection theory to perception of differences in line length

Bonnel

Noizet

1979

Acta Psychologica

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The effects of duration, area, and background intensity on the visual intensity difference threshold given by the forced-choice procedure: Derivations from a statistical decision model for sensory discrimination

Cited by 45 publications

References 26 publications

Differential luminance sensitivity of the human visual system

Differential luminance sensitivity of the human visual system

Classification images reveal decision variables and strategies in forced choice tasks

Application of signal detection theory to perception of differences in line length

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