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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Signal Attenuation as a Rat Model of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Published on: January 9, 2015
Relevance of unjustified strong assumptions when utilizing signal detection theory
1Psychology Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 tnelson@glue.umd.edu http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/faculty/tnelson/index.html.
Abstract:
Several conclusions depend on a version of signal detection theory that assumes performance is based on underlying equal-variance normal distributions of trace strength. Such conclusions are questionable without empirical justification for that assumption. A thought experiment is presented to show how the assumption is probably invalid, and empirical evidence is cited for the assumption's invalidity in research on human memory.
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