Correcting Sample Size Bias in d' and A'
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1
University of Auckland, Psychology, New Zealand
While signal detection measures are intended to remove response bias, estimates of signal strength have been shown to vary with differing sample sizes. Previous work has either largely ignored this bias or investigated it with coarse changes in sample size. As paradigms employing different sample sizes across conditions exists (e.g. oddball detection paradigms) it was of interest to investigate the extent of this sample size bias and determine if correction of the sample size bias was possible. In a series of simulations the sample size biases for d' and A' were determined for all pairings of sample sizes between 1-100 inclusive. For uncorrected d' and A' values type 1 error was inflated when no difference existed between the conditions. When differences between conditions were introduced, uncorrected d' and A' data produced distortions in the expected pattern of results. Correction methods are proposed that greatly reduced the issues associated with comparing measures obtained from different sample sizes. In some cases, the issues were removed completely.
Keywords:
Signal detection,
d',
simulated data,
Sample size bias,
A'
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Methods Development
Citation:
Patten
B and
Hamm
J
(2015). Correcting Sample Size Bias in d' and A'.
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00279
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Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Bradley Patten, University of Auckland, Psychology, Auckland, New Zealand, bradley.patten@auckland.ac.nz
Dr. Jeff Hamm, University of Auckland, Psychology, Auckland, New Zealand, j.hamm@auckland.ac.nz