Relevance of unjustified strong assumptions when utilizing signal detection theory.
Several conclusions depend on a version of signal detection theory that assumes performance is based on underlying equal-variance normal distributions of trace strength. Such conclusions are questionable without empirical justification for that assumption. A thought experiment is presented to show how the assumption is probably invalid, and empirical evidence is cited for the assumption's invalidity in research on human memory.
Nelson
Thomas O
TO
Psychology Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 tnelson@glue.umd.edu http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/faculty/tnelson/index.html.