Indices of response bias in the same-different experiment.

Abstract

The same-different experiment is popular for assessing perceptual performance, including the performance of people with neuropsychological deficits. Although the measurement of accuracy with this experiment is now well understood, the measurement of response bias remains problematic. Reformulating the decision space for the experiment can yield new bias indices that are analogous to, but numerically different from, those of the more familiar yes-no experiment. Isobias curves that show how hit rate covaries with false alarm rate for constant bias but varying accuracy are presented for eight indices, and best-fitting parameters of the isobias functions are determined for a set of experimental data. The theoretical status of the bias indices and their relation to other formulations are reviewed.