title: Psychophysics of remembering: to bias or not to bias.
abstract: Delayed matching to sample is typically a two-alternative forced-choice procedure with two sample stimuli. In this task the effects of varying the probability of reinforcers for correct choices and the resulting receiver operating characteristic are symmetrical. A version of the task where a sample is present on some trials and absent on others is analogous to a yes/no recognition task. We describe data from two experiments where an asymmetry in performance in the yes/no task could be attributed to a change in response bias with increasing retention-interval duration from a matching-law perspective, but not from a signal-detection perspective. Both approaches make explicit assumptions about response bias. The apparent inconsistency between the two approaches to the treatment of response bias is resolved in terms of a model proposed by K. G. White and J. T. Wixted (1999) which predicts asymmetrical matching-law functions and receiver operating characteristics without making any assumptions about response bias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Otago, P O Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. geoff.white@otago.ac.nz
authors.forename: K Geoffrey
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Wixted
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D010856:Columbidae; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D013997:Time Factors