What Is Signal Detection Theory?

At its core, signal detection theory involves the measurement of the difference between two
distinct patterns. The first is called the “stimulus” when you’re talking about some type of living
organism or the “signal” when you’re talking about a machine. The second pattern involves the
random noise that distracts either a person or a machine’s ability to collect and process
information.

In other words, it looks at how easy or difficult it is for someone to process information and
respond to it when they’re also being exposed to a lot of background noise or other needless
distractions.

In general, humans notice things based on how strong the stimulus is and how much attention
they’re paying. SDT dives deep into this concept and gives professionals a lot of actionable
insights to work with in several different contexts.

What Is Signal Detection Theory in Psychology?

To put it as simply as possible, in psychology, signal detection theory relates to the idea that the
intensity of the stimuli and the psychological and physical state of the person contribute to
whether or not the person is able to detect the stimuli.

Studies on Decision Making

A number of studies have been done on SDT within the context of decision-making over the
years. One of the more recent of them was published online by a team of researchers in 2018. It
looked at the referral decision-making process of general practitioners in cases where a patient
could potentially have lung cancer. Not only did it help the researchers better understand how
certain stimuli impacted the referrals that these GPs were giving patients with possible lung
cancer related to their one-year prognosis, but it also let them explore how characteristics like
the gender and experience of those GPs impacted their ability to make accurate decisions.

Signal Detection Theory Applications

Overall, SDT is widely applicable, both within the context of humans and animals. Whether
you’re conducting research into memory, the characteristics of certain stimuli, or how
reinforcement occurs, you’re likely to encounter signal detection theory at some point.

Sensitivity or Discriminability

One of the major applications of SDT has to do with the general concepts of sensitivity or
discriminability. Professionals use SDT to observe how difficult or easy it is for people to detect
the presence of a specific type of stimulus when other background events are present.

If you were assessing someone’s memory, for example, you might show them a series of words
on a piece of paper. In theory, having that person remember five words after a pre-determined
period of time would be far easier than having them remember 30. Likewise, they would
probably have an easier time recalling those words in total silence than if you were also playing
music.

Even something as straightforward as giving Person 1 a longer amount of time to remember the
words when compared to Person 2 can impact sensitivity or discriminability for both individuals.

Discovering Bias in Responses

Another common application of SDT has to do with determining bias in responses. In other
words, what makes one specific response more probable for a given person? Someone may be
more likely to respond one way if a stimulus is present and another way if it is not.

If you were conducting the same memory recall test as outlined above and people got penalties
whenever they “missed” or couldn’t remember certain words, that would be a stimulus that
would absolutely influence bias.

Compressed Sensing: Relation to Signal Detection Theory

One concept that isn’t quite the same thing as SDT but that is closely related is called
compressed sensing. Here, you’re trying to recall “high dimensional but low complexity entities
with only a few measurements.” (Wikipedia)

This is a technique that is commonly used in the medical field, for example. Essentially, what
you’re talking about is compression – the same way you might compress a computer file to
make it easier to store and send to someone else. Think about how complicated your average
medical image, like an ultrasound, can be. Using the principles of signal detection theory as
they relate to technology, those same medical images can be “compressed” with lower sampling
rates.

This makes it not only easier and faster to transmit them from one location to another, but they
also require less space to store, too. Most importantly, they can be interpreted accurately,
quickly, and easily – which is of paramount importance in the healthcare setting.
 Modern Utilization Through Technology

As previously mentioned, signal detection theory isn’t just present in psychology within the
context of humans and animals. It also matters a great deal in the worlds of technology and
electronics.

Think back to the inception of SDT and its origins in radar detection during World War II. Even
though the technology itself has advanced and grown more sophisticated in the decades since,
signal detection theory is still being used in the same basic way. What you’re trying to do is learn
how to recover certain signals from irrelevant and often unpredictable “noise” that might be
present in certain instrumentation.

As an example of this, think back to the days when people would listen to the radio in their car
(as opposed to satellite radio or even just internet-based content like podcasts, as many do
now). Most of us over a certain age have the experience of adjusting the dial, only to land
“in-between” two stations. You’re essentially picking up two signals at once – the one you want
and another irrelevant one, which is distracting and acting as unnecessary noise. In the context
of electronics and technology, signal detection theory explains why something like this happens
and what occurs when it does.

In a broader sense, SDT becomes a key component in something like meteorology, for
example. Professionals use sophisticated equipment to collect information about weather
patterns, quickly identifying what is actionable information that they can use to interpret the
weather and what is just random noise that might be interfering with their readings.

History of Signal Detection Theory

Signal detection theory dates to the early 1940s, although it wasn’t called that at the time. It has
also evolved tremendously over the years, both in concept and in application.

The Start of Signal Detection

Gustav Fechner

The beginning of what we now call signal detection theory (and experimental psychology in
general) began with a man named Gustav Fechner. He was doing research into the mental
judgment of humans to explain and understand why humans discriminate against some ideas
and responses versus others.

World War II
 In the 1940s, researchers were using what would become signal detection theory to better
understand how radar technology worked. If you’re using radar to try to detect enemy aircraft
before they have a chance to get into the optimal position to shoot or bomb you, for example, it
stands to reason that you need that system to be as accurate as possible. But while early radar
technology could easily identify a signal that was coming from something like a plane, it would
naturally pick up additional “noise” as well. Signal detection theory helped people understand
why this was the case and what to do about it so that they could make more accurate radar
systems moving forward.

First Applications of the Theory

Based on the findings that were coming out of World War II, the value of signal detection theory
was quickly picked up by cognitive scientists across the globe. They soon started taking the
general principles of SDT and adapting them to human decision-making. Here, they were using
it to prove that human “decisions are made against a background of uncertainty.” (Anderson,
2015) In other words, the goal of any person with a choice to make involves cutting through all
the nonsense to get to the heart of the matter in front of them. SDT helps understand how easy
or difficult that may be when certain conditions are present.

How Psychologists Use Signal Detection Theory

Psychologists, generally speaking, use signal detection theory when they are attempting to
measure how we make decisions when faced with at least some degree of uncertainty. This can
be beneficial to give additional context to decisions that people might make or what they might
recall when they’re feeling foggy, for example, or when providing eyewitness testimony.

The last point is particularly important because, while eyewitnesses are often an invaluable
asset when discussing the details of a crime they may have witnessed, they are not as infallible
as some might believe. There’s a reason why a person’s “memory” is ultimately not admissible
in a court of law. When distracted, “memory” can change the shape of a room or the color of a
car. Signal detection theory helps psychologists understand why this might be the case.

Status of Stimulus and Observer Decision

Another example of this idea in action has to do with brightness and the way we perceive
certain aspects of objects. We use the brightness of a traffic light, for example, to quickly
determine how close or how far it might be. The brighter that traffic light is, the closer it is – our
brains realize this subconsciously. If someone were driving in foggy conditions, it might reduce
the brightness of that traffic light. Therefore, we might not realize just how close or how far it is
when certain distractions or stimuli are present.
Case Studies Using Signal Detection Theory

In addition to academic studies being done specifically about signal detection theory, SDT has
also been used as a tool in other case studies.

Examples of Signal Detection Theory

One example of a study that used signal detection theory occurred in 2020 and looked at crime
signal detection. It used SDT to help understand the five stages of crime signal detection – the
registration of an event, the interpretation of said event, the reception, and the knowledge. It
emphasized qualities like signal alertness, reflection, pattern recognition, and even someone’s
personal knowledge. The goal was to use SDT to help better understand what stimuli must be
present to take someone from a passive observer to an active whistleblower in certain
situations.

Another case study had to do with the idea of acceptability judgments, which have long been an
essential part of language research. Basically, you take a native speaker and ask them if
something is “acceptable” in their language. Based on the responses you get and by paying
attention to negative responses in particular, SDT can be used by language researchers to test
theories relating to a human’s overall language capacity.