CORRELATION OF PERFORMANCE IN DETECTING VISUAL AND AUDITORY SIGNALS

Two experiments were performed in which Os were to detect which pulses of noise or pulses of light were slightly more intense than others in a train. It was found in the first experiment that both sensitivity (d') and degree of conservatism in responding (beta) were correlated for the two tasks. The auditory task was more difficult than the visual under the chosen conditions. Higher betas were noted for Os first performing on the visual task. In the second experiment, the tasks were more closely equated in difficulty, and Os performed both the auditory and the visual task twice. The effect of order previously noted for beta was not obtained. Beta and d' were again significantly correlated for the first session; for the second session significant correlations were obtained for d' but not beta. The results suggest that not only are there response biases common to detection in different modalities but also common factors affecting sensitivity. (Author)