Signal detection theory and human memory

Critically reviews 4 categories of applications of signal detection theory (SDT) in the study of memorial processes: (a) to scale memory strength, (b) in criterial interpretations of data that seem to indicate forgetting, (c) to determine the form of trace storage and to settle the question of all-or-none learning, and (d) extensions of SDT to scale memory-based discriminability in finer analyses of retention. The techniques that SDT offers the student of memory are explained, their limitations and past misapplications are discussed, their advantages in various situations are enumerated, and future applications are suggested. (47 ref.)