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psycho (version 0.1.4)

dprime: Dprime and Other Signal Detection Theory indices.

Description

Computes Signal Detection Theory indices (d', beta, A', B''D, c).

Usage

dprime(n_hit, n_miss, n_fa, n_cr)

Arguments

n_hit

Number of hits.

n_miss

Number of misses.

n_fa

Number of false alarms.

n_cr

Number of correct rejections.

Value

Calculates the d', the beta, the A' and the B''D based on the signal detection theory (SRT). See Pallier (2002) for the algorithms.

Returns a list containing 4 objects:

  • dprime (d'): The sensitivity. Reflects the distance between the two distributions: signal, and signal+noise and corresponds to the Z value of the hit-rate minus that of the false-alarm rate.

  • beta: The bias (criterion). The value for beta is the ratio of the normal density functions at the criterion of the Z values used in the computation of d'. This reflects an observer's bias to say 'yes' or 'no' with the unbiased observer having a value around 1.0. As the bias to say 'yes' increases (liberal), resulting in a higher hit-rate and false-alarm-rate, beta approaches 0.0. As the bias to say 'no' increases (conservative), resulting in a lower hit-rate and false-alarm rate, beta increases over 1.0 on an open-ended scale.

  • aprime (A'): Non-parametric estimate of discriminability. An A' near 1.0 indicates good discriminability, while a value near 0.5 means chance performance.

  • bppd (B''D): Non-parametric estimate of bias. A B''D equal to 0.0 indicates no bias, positive numbers represent conservative bias (i.e., a tendency to answer 'no'), negative numbers represent liberal bias (i.e. a tendency to answer 'yes'). The maximum absolute value is 1.0.

  • c: Another index of bias. the number of standard deviations from the midpoint between these two distributions, i.e., a measure on a continuum from "conservative" to "liberal".

Note that for d' and beta, adjustement for extreme values are made following the recommandations Hautus (1995).

Examples

Run this code
# NOT RUN {
n_hit <- 9
n_miss <- 1
n_fa <- 2
n_cr <- 7

indices <- dprime(n_hit, n_miss, n_fa, n_cr)

# }

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