The Measurement of Taste Discrimination With the Same‐different Task: A Detection‐theory Analysis

Irwin, R. John; Stillman, Jennifer A.; Hautus, Michael J.; Huddleston, Lynne

doi:10.1111/j.1745-459x.1993.tb00216.x

Cited by 41 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 8 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…In psychological studies, one rule of thumb is that d = 0.2 is a "small" effect size, d = 0.5 is a "medium" effect size and d = 0.8 is a "large" effect size (Cohen, 1988). Note that an analogous statistic (d') is used to index "discriminability" (Green & Swets, 1966;Irwin et al, 1993;Macmillan & Creelman, 1991;Triesman, 2002) and quantify recognition memory (Madden et al, 1999). To reduce the influence of extinction, effect sizes were calculated based on the first 2 minutes of the CS presentation.…”

Section: Continuous and Discontinuous Tonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetrical stimulus generalization following differential fear conditioning

Bang

Allen

Jones

et al. 2008

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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Rodent ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are ethologically critical social signals. Rats emit 22 kHz USVs and 50 kHz USVs, respectively, in conjunction with negative and positive affective states. Little is known about what controls emotional reactivity to these social signals. Using male SpragueDawley rats, we examined unconditional and conditional freezing behavior in response to the following auditory stimuli: three 22 kHz USVs, a discontinuous tone whose frequency and on-off pattern matched one of the USVs, a continuous tone with the same or lower frequencies, a 4 kHz discontinuous tone with an on-off pattern matched to one of the USVs, and a 50 kHz USV. There were no differences among these stimuli in terms of the unconditional elicitation of freezing behavior. Thus, the stimuli were equally neutral before conditioning. During differential fear conditioning, one of these stimuli (the CS + ) always co-terminated with a footshock unconditional stimulus (US) and another stimulus (the CS − ) was explicitly unpaired with the US. There were no significant differences among these cues in CS + -elicited freezing behavior. Thus, the stimuli were equally salient or effective as cues in supporting fear conditioning. When the CS + was a 22 kHz USV or a similar stimulus, rats discriminated based on the principal frequency and/or the temporal pattern of the stimulus. However, when these same stimuli served as the CS − , discrimination failed due to generalization from the CS + . Thus, the stimuli differed markedly in the specificity of conditioning. This strikingly asymmetrical stimulus generalization is a novel bias in discrimination.

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Section: Continuous and Discontinuous Tonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetrical stimulus generalization following differential fear conditioning

Bang

Allen

Jones

et al. 2008

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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“…To this end, the hit rate was defined as the probability of a participant's choosing a particular rating (or a larger one) given that the two samples were of the same sucrose (or quinine) concentration, and the false-alarm rate was defined as the probability of a taster choosing the same rating given that the two samples were of different sucrose (or quinine) concentrations. The differencing model (Macmillan & Creel-,man, 1991;Noreen, 1981) was adopted on the basis of previous research in taste (Hautus & Irwin, 1995;Irwin, Stillman, Hautus, & Huddleston, 1993;Stillman & Irwin, 1995). This model assumes that the response on each trial is based on the difference between the sensory effects produced by each ofthe samples that are presented for comparison.…”

Section: Receiver Operating Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of sensitivity on response bias in taste and audition

Stillman

Brown

Trościanko

2000

Perception & Psychophysics

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A detection theoretic analysis was employed to examine sensitivity and response bias in two modalities. In Experiment 1, 6 tasters made same-different judgments about the concentration of either sucrose or quinine in pairs of tonic water samples. The beverages were colored, but color was not predictive of the concentration of the sweet or bitter ingredient. When same-different ratings were collapsed to approximate the outcome of a categorical decision, tasters with poorer sensitivity appear to have adopted more extreme response criteria than did tasters with greater sensitivity, irrespective of taste quality, color, or whether pairs ofsolutions comprised the same or different colors. In Experiment 2, 3 individuals discriminated pairs of lOoo-Hz sinusoids differing in amplitude. Six amplitude differences were tested. Rating-scale versions of two paradigms: The single-interval yes-no task and the twointerval same-different task were used to measure sensitivity and bias. There was a preponderance of "same" responses in the same-different task. Estimates of bias obtained from collapsed ratings in both tasks were unaffected by sensitivity, but a consideration of the range over which sets of criteria were spread suggested a general tendency toward more conservative response biases as sensitivity declined.The outstanding contribution of detection theory to psychophysical measurement is its ability to provide measures of sensitivity that are independent across manipulations of response bias, and vice versa. Thus, a number of recent papers evaluating both parametric and "nonparametric" indices of response bias agree on the-need to select an index displaying this property (Donaldson, 1992;Macmillan & Creelman, 1990See, Warm, Dember, & Howe, 1997;Snodgrass & Corwin, 1988). On occasion, however, researchers overlook the fact that statistical independence does not imply behavioral independence. For example, Snodgrass and Corwin (1988), who were scrupulous in their choice of bias measures, concluded that different dementias produced characteristic response biases. The recognition memory task in which bias was measured in their study was markedly more difficult for some groups than for others; thus, the conclusion presupposes the behavioral independence of bias and sensitivity. In a set of three experiments, See et al.The authors thank Michael Hautus for making available the computer program from which the d' estimates were obtained and Douglas Creelman, Sandy MacRae, and one anonymous reviewer for their valuable suggestions on an earlier version of this manuscript. Correspondence should be addressed to J. A. Stillman,

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“…The parametric equations for this ROC have been presented by Macmillan, Kaplan, and Creelman (1977), and in slightly different form by Irwin, Stillman, Hautus, and Huddleston (1993). The nature ofthe asymmetry depends on the definition of hits and false alarms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Irwin, Department of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand (e-mail: rji@auckland.ac.nz). measure of accuracy, because its shape and location depend upon the decision strategy that an observer adopts in the task (Irwin, Stillman, Hautus, & Huddleston, 1993;Macmillan & Creelman, 1991;Noreen, 1981).…”

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confidence: 99%

Decision strategies and visual-field asymmetries in same-different judgments of word meaning

Francis

Irwin

1995

Memory & Cognition

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The accuracy with which observers judged whether two words belonged to the same semantic category was determined from a detection-theoretic analysis of same-different judgments. In Experiment 1, one word was presented centrally and the other word in either the left visual field (LVF) or the right visual field (RVF); in Experiment 2, both words were presented to either the LVF or the RVF. In order to obtain receiver-operating characteristics (ROCs) of performance, observers were asked to rate their confidence that the two words belonged to the same semantic category. Two models of the decision strategy were fitted to the obtained characteristics: a differencing model, in which the decision variable was the difference between the two observations; and an optimal model, in which each observation was judged in relation to a criterion. In both experiments, the optimal model provided a better fit than the differencing model to the obtained characteristics. Maximum-likelihood estimates of both the criterion-free parameter, d', and the area under the operating characteristic, peA), were greater for words presented in the RVFthan for those presented in the LVF.The same-different task has enjoyed wide usage in investigations of cognitive functions, including investigations of hemispheric asymmetries, perceptual matching, and the processes involved in stimulus comparisons. The predominant focus in cognitive psychology has been on reaction times rather than accuracy. Typically, errors in same-different studies are of secondary interest, since the conditions are usually such that few errors occur (Farell, 1985), and most investigators attempt to minimize them.In contrast to this approach, we report here on the accuracy of same-different judgments rather than on reaction time. We present findings concerning the accuracy with which people can judge whether two words belong to the same semantic category or not, and also concerning the question of whether the accuracy of their judgments depends on the visual field in which the words are displayed. By so doing, we hope to provide a different perspective on the processes involved in same-different judgments of this kind. Thus, we propose that an appropriate measure of accuracy can reveal the underlying decision processes in judgments of identity or difference, and that these processes are fundamental to understanding such judgments. One way in which this can be accomplished is by analyzing the same-different receiveroperating characteristic (ROC), which provides a We thank Michael Corballis, Carole Ernest, and Michael Hautus for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and Michael Corballis for advice on Experiment 2. We also thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their useful and challenging comments. Experiment I is included in part ofa doctoral dissertation by M .A.F. Requests for reprints should be sent to R.

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The Measurement of Taste Discrimination With the Same‐different Task: A Detection‐theory Analysis

Cited by 41 publications

References 8 publications

Asymmetrical stimulus generalization following differential fear conditioning

Asymmetrical stimulus generalization following differential fear conditioning

Influence of sensitivity on response bias in taste and audition

Decision strategies and visual-field asymmetries in same-different judgments of word meaning

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