Elementary Signal Detection Theory

Elementary Signal Detection Theory
Thomas D. Wickens
Oxford University Press, 2001.

This book is currently in print. You can purchase it from the publisher at www.oup-usa.org.

Supplementary programs

A series of programs are available to fit the signal detection models described in the book. These programs run under Windows. I am currently in the process of developing them and rewriting them so that the work correctly under recent versions of Windows. Here are the latest versions; you may want to check this site occasionally for revisions and for additional programs.

If you have comments on the programs or suggestions concerning them, please contact me at twickens@psych.ucla.edu.

GAUSSW

This program calculates probabilites or ordinates for a Gaussian distribution. To download the gaussian calculator, click here. To run it, simply click on its icon.

DPRIMEW

This program either calculates d' and bias statistics form hit and false-alarm probabilities or those probabilities from the model parameters. To use it, enter the appropriate values on one side of the window, then press return to the quantities on the other side. To download the d' calculator, click here. To run it, simply click on its icon.

FitRoc and FitRating

These programs fit the signal-detection model in either its equal-variance or unequal-variance form, using data from a series of independent detection conditions (FitRoc) or from a single condition with rating-scale responses (FitRating). See Chapters 4 and 5 of the book for a description of the models and the statistics calculated. The current version is 1.0.

These programs are loaded into your Windows system (Windows 95 or later) through the standard loading procedure. To do so, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a temporary directory and download the file Roc_Rate to it. This file is a self-extracting zip archive.
  2. Double click on Roc_Rate to run it. It will create, in the same directory, the setup files needed to load the programs.
  3. Run the file setup.exe. Follow the instructions on the screen. A program group, SDT Programs, will be created in your Start menu contining shortcuts to FitRoc and FitRating. The extracted program files themselves will be located in c:Program Files\SDT Programs. No other changes will be made to your system.
  4. Delete all files in the temporary directory (except, perhaps, the original Roc_Rate.exe, if you think you plan to load the programs on another machine.

Instructions for the use of these programs appear in the associated help files. Start the program and use the Help menu. Each program contains an Example button that loads data from one of the examples in the book.

To remove these programs from your system, use the standard Windows program removal sequence. From Settings open the Control Panel, and in it open the Add/Remove Programs option. Find the entry SDT Programs in the list of programs and click the Add/Remove button.

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