RELATIVE ESTIMATES OF COMBINATION WEIGHTS, DECISION CRITERIA, AND INTERNAL NOISE BASED ON CORRELATION-COEFFICIENTS

A means by which relative combination weights may be determined is des cribed for a signal detection model in which the decision variable is a weighted linear combination of several independent, normally distrib uted random variables, X(i)'s. The first theorem presents the correlat ion between the binary response variables-signal versus no signal-and the component X(i). The second theorem presents a parallel result for the case that additive internal noise is present. Thus in psychophysic al experiments, the relative combination weights may be obtained by co rrelating the observers' responses and the input random variables. Thi rd, three numerical methods which allow the evaluation of the relative magnitude of the decision criterion and the variance of a hypothetica l additive internal noise are considered.