Additional rules for the transformed up-down method in psychophysics

Abstract

In a classic paper, Levitt (1971) described an adaptive procedure for estimating points on the psychometric function known as the transformed up-down method. Levitt discussed the assumptions of the method and presented a brief table with simple rules that converge to a few different points on the psychometric function. Levitt's original table contains only the simplest rules, and sparsely covers the range of the psychometric function. This paper provides a table with previously unpublished rules which cover the range of the psychometric function at 5% intervals. There is a brief review of the major issues in adaptive testing. Technical issues such as the mean length and logical construction of the new rules are discussed. © 1996 Psychonomic Society, Inc.