sdt_rating: Confidence Rating Signal Detection Theory Model

In bmm: Easy and Accessible Bayesian Measurement Models Using 'brms'

Confidence Rating Signal Detection Theory Model

Description

Confidence Rating Signal Detection Theory Model

Usage

sdt_rating(
  response,
  stimulus,
  dist = c("normal", "gumbel_min", "gumbel_max", "logistic"),
  threshold_type = c("parsimonious", "equidistant", "log_distance", "log_ratio",
    "softmax"),
  version = c("standard", "dpsdt", "metad"),
  links = NULL,
  ...
)

Arguments

response	A character vector of K column names containing response counts per rating category, ordered from "definitely noise" to "definitely signal".
stimulus	The name of the variable coding the stimulus type. Must be coded as 0 (noise/new) and 1 (signal/old).
dist	The distribution assumed for the latent evidence, given here by its cumulative distribution function. One of: "normal" (default): Gaussian SDT, \Phi(x) "gumbel_min": smallest-extreme-value SDT, 1 - \exp(-\exp(x)) (complementary log-log) "gumbel_max": largest-extreme-value SDT, \exp(-\exp(-x)) (log-log, as in evd::pgumbel) "logistic": logistic SDT, 1 / (1 + \exp(-x))
threshold_type	Character. Threshold parameterization: "parsimonious" (default): 2 parameters (criterion + spacing). Thresholds follow logit-spaced canonical positions (Selker et al., 2019). "equidistant": 2 parameters (criterion + spacing). Thresholds are equally spaced, exp(spacing) apart. "log_distance": K-2 parameters. ⁠delta<i>⁠ is the log width of the interval between thresholds i and i + 1, so the intervals are free and the ordering is guaranteed (Paulewicz & Blaut, 2022). "log_ratio": K-2 parameters (Paulewicz & Blaut, 2022; the odd-K form is bmm's). One interval is the spread, exp(delta): for even K the interval just above criterion, for odd K the middle category. The first interval on the other side (even K) or on each side (odd K) is a ratio times the spread, and every further interval a ratio times the first interval on its side. The deltas are therefore not exchangeable; model$parameters names the role of each. "softmax": K-2 parameters. A shared spacing parameter sets the mean interval width, exp(spacing), while K-3 delta parameters share the total width out over the intervals through a softmax (each delta is the log ratio of its interval to the last one).
version	Character. The latent-process version of the rating model. One of "standard" (default, a single familiarity SDT process), "dpsdt" (dual-process SDT with recollection parameters Ro/Rn), or "metad" (meta-d' with a metacognitive efficiency parameter logmratio, the log M-ratio). All three use the same confidence-rating response interface. See Details.
links	A named list of link functions for the parameters, e.g. links = list(d = "log"). Only d, criterion and bias can be set, to "identity", "log", "softplus", "logit" or "probit". sdratio and the threshold parameters keep their identity links, because the model reads each of them through exp() and fixes sdratio at 0 for equal variance. The same holds for Ro and Rn, read through inv_logit() and fixed off by default, and for logmratio, read through exp().
...	used internally for testing, ignore it

Details

Three versions share the confidence-rating response interface, selected with version:

Version: standard (default)

• Domain: Perception & Recognition Memory

• Task: Signal/Noise or Old/New Recognition

• Name: Signal Detection Theory (Confidence Rating)

• Citation:

  • Green, D. M., & Swets, J. A. (1966). Signal detection theory and psychophysics. Wiley.

• Version: standard

• Requirements:

  Provide pre-aggregated data with the following columns:

• Response counts: one column per rating category (K columns)

• Stimulus type (stimulus): 0 = noise, 1 = signal Categories should be ordered: 1 = 'definitely noise' to K = 'definitely signal'

• Parameters:

  • d: Sensitivity: d' under equal variance (the default). When sdratio is estimated, d is d_a, the distance between the signal and noise distributions in units of their root-mean-square SD

  • criterion: Decision criterion, measured from the mean of the noise distribution in noise-SD units: the middle threshold (the old/new boundary) for an even number of categories, the centre of the middle category for an odd number

  • bias: Alternative to criterion: the same middle threshold measured from the midpoint between the noise and signal means (0 = neutral, positive = conservative). Use one of the two

  • spacing: Threshold spacing: controls distance between adjacent thresholds (exp(spacing) ensures positive spacing)

  • sdratio: Log SD ratio: the log of the signal-to-noise standard deviation ratio, so exp(sdratio) is the ratio itself and 0 means equal variance

• Fixed parameters:

  • sdratio = 0

• Default parameter links:

  • d = identity; criterion = identity; bias = identity; spacing = identity; sdratio = identity

• Default priors:

  • d:

    • main: normal(1, 1)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

  • criterion:

    • main: normal(0.5, 1.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

  • bias:

    • main: normal(0, 1.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • spacing:

    • main: normal(0, 0.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.3)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • sdratio:

    • main: normal(0, 0.3)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.3)

    • sd: exponential(2)

Version: dpsdt

Dual-process SDT (Yonelinas, 1994): a familiarity SDT process plus an all-or-none recollection process that loads the most-confident category. Ro is recollection of old items (loads the most-confident "signal" category), the only recollection term of the classic model; Rn is recall-to-reject of new items (loads the most-confident "noise" category), the two-sided extension that Yonelinas (2024) applies to visual working memory. inv_logit(Ro)/inv_logit(Rn) are the recollection probabilities. Both are fixed off by default (recovering standard); add Ro ~ 1 for the one-sided model and ⁠Ro ~ 1, Rn ~ 1⁠ for the two-sided model. d describes the familiarity distributions only – the observed ROC is a mixture of familiarity and recollection, so it is not the discriminability of that mixture. summary() reports Ro and Rn on the logit scale; latent_sdt() returns them as probabilities (attribute extra). Two cautions. Freeing sdratio alongside Ro is weakly identified from a single ROC: in simulation the two are correlated at about -0.8 in the posterior and Ro is pulled down while exp(sdratio) is pulled above 1; keep the familiarity process equal-variance unless the design separates them. And a recollection probability near zero is reported as the tail of its prior: on the probability scale the interval cannot include 0, so the test of "no recollection" is a comparison with the fit that leaves the parameter fixed off, not the interval.

• Domain: Perception & Recognition Memory

• Task: Signal/Noise or Old/New Recognition

• Name: Signal Detection Theory (Confidence Rating)

• Citation:

  • Yonelinas, A. P. (1994). Receiver-operating characteristics in recognition memory: Evidence for a dual-process model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20(6), 1341-1354. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.20.6.1341

  • Yonelinas, A. P. (2024). The role of recollection and familiarity in visual working memory: A mixture of threshold and signal detection processes. Psychological Review, 131(2), 321-348. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000432

• Version: dpsdt

• Requirements:

  Provide pre-aggregated data with the following columns:

• Response counts: one column per rating category (K columns)

• Stimulus type (stimulus): 0 = noise, 1 = signal Categories should be ordered: 1 = 'definitely noise' to K = 'definitely signal'

• Parameters:

  • d: Sensitivity: d' under equal variance (the default). When sdratio is estimated, d is d_a, the distance between the signal and noise distributions in units of their root-mean-square SD

  • criterion: Decision criterion, measured from the mean of the noise distribution in noise-SD units: the middle threshold (the old/new boundary) for an even number of categories, the centre of the middle category for an odd number

  • bias: Alternative to criterion: the same middle threshold measured from the midpoint between the noise and signal means (0 = neutral, positive = conservative). Use one of the two

  • spacing: Threshold spacing: controls distance between adjacent thresholds (exp(spacing) ensures positive spacing)

  • sdratio: Log SD ratio: the log of the signal-to-noise standard deviation ratio, so exp(sdratio) is the ratio itself and 0 means equal variance

  • Ro: Recollection of old items: probability inv_logit(Ro) that an old item is recollected as old, loading the most-confident 'signal' category

  • Rn: Recollection of new items: probability inv_logit(Rn) that a new item is recall-rejected, loading the most-confident 'noise' category

• Fixed parameters:

  • sdratio = 0

  • Ro = -100

  • Rn = -100

• Default parameter links:

  • d = identity; criterion = identity; bias = identity; spacing = identity; sdratio = identity; Ro = identity; Rn = identity

• Default priors:

  • d:

    • main: normal(1, 1)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

  • criterion:

    • main: normal(0.5, 1.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

  • bias:

    • main: normal(0, 1.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • spacing:

    • main: normal(0, 0.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.3)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • sdratio:

    • main: normal(0, 0.3)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.3)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • Ro:

    • main: normal(0, 1)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

  • Rn:

    • main: normal(0, 1)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

Version: metad

Meta-d' (Maniscalco & Lau, 2012): a type-2 metacognitive sensitivity governs confidence-threshold placement, with the total "old"/"new" response rates held to what type-1 d implies. Rather than estimating meta-d' directly, the model estimates logmratio, the log M-ratio \log(\mathrm{meta\text{-}d'}/d'), and recovers meta-d' as exp(logmratio) * d. The M-ratio is the field-standard measure of metacognitive efficiency (Maniscalco & Lau, 2012; Fleming, 2017): estimating it on the log scale keeps meta-d' positive, regularizes it toward d, and anchors the ideal point (meta-d' = d, perfect metacognition) at logmratio = 0, which recovers standard. Type-1 and type-2 sensitivity share one scale (d', or d_a when sdratio is estimated), so the M-ratio is unaffected by sdratio. The type-1 boundary is the middle threshold (criterion or bias), so this version needs an even number of rating categories: with an odd number the middle category straddles the boundary (see "Where criterion and bias sit"). Every threshold keeps its distance from the midpoint between the means when d is replaced by meta-d', as the HMeta-d toolbox's model equations do (Fleming, 2017, Appendix). Whether the formula estimates criterion or bias changes how the type-1 boundary is parameterized, not this constraint. Maximum-likelihood meta-d' instead constrains meta-c' = c' (Maniscalco & Lau, 2014), so its estimates differ from bmm's when the criterion is far from the midpoint. Extract the M-ratio posterior with mratio().

• Domain: Perception & Recognition Memory

• Task: Signal/Noise or Old/New Recognition

• Name: Signal Detection Theory (Confidence Rating)

• Citation:

  • Maniscalco, B., & Lau, H. (2012). A signal detection theoretic approach for estimating metacognitive sensitivity from confidence ratings. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(1), 422-430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2011.09.021

• Version: metad

• Requirements:

  Provide pre-aggregated data with the following columns:

• Response counts: one column per rating category (K columns)

• Stimulus type (stimulus): 0 = noise, 1 = signal Categories should be ordered: 1 = 'definitely noise' to K = 'definitely signal'

• Parameters:

  • d: Sensitivity: d' under equal variance (the default). When sdratio is estimated, d is d_a, the distance between the signal and noise distributions in units of their root-mean-square SD

  • criterion: Decision criterion, measured from the mean of the noise distribution in noise-SD units: the middle threshold (the old/new boundary) for an even number of categories, the centre of the middle category for an odd number

  • bias: Alternative to criterion: the same middle threshold measured from the midpoint between the noise and signal means (0 = neutral, positive = conservative). Use one of the two

  • spacing: Threshold spacing: controls distance between adjacent thresholds (exp(spacing) ensures positive spacing)

  • sdratio: Log SD ratio: the log of the signal-to-noise standard deviation ratio, so exp(sdratio) is the ratio itself and 0 means equal variance

  • logmratio: Log M-ratio, log(meta-d/d): metacognitive efficiency. 0 is ideal metacognition (meta-d = d), negative is inefficiency, positive is hyper-efficiency. meta-d is recovered as exp(logmratio) * d, on the same scale as d

• Fixed parameters:

  • sdratio = 0

• Default parameter links:

  • d = identity; criterion = identity; bias = identity; spacing = identity; sdratio = identity; logmratio = identity

• Default priors:

  • d:

    • main: normal(1, 1)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

  • criterion:

    • main: normal(0.5, 1.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(1)

  • bias:

    • main: normal(0, 1.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.5)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • spacing:

    • main: normal(0, 0.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.3)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • sdratio:

    • main: normal(0, 0.3)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.3)

    • sd: exponential(2)

  • logmratio:

    • main: normal(0, 0.5)

    • effects: normal(0, 0.3)

    • sd: exponential(2)

By default, the model assumes equal variance (sdratio fixed to 0). To estimate unequal variance, add sdratio ~ 1 (or sdratio ~ predictors) to the formula.

Value

An object of class bmmodel

Sensitivity is on the same scale as sdt_yn()

d is d' whenever sdratio stays fixed at 0, which is every fit that does not give sdratio a formula. With sdratio estimated, d is the balanced index d_a that sdt_yn() reports: the separation between the signal and noise distributions divided by the root-mean-square of their SDs. Unlike the noise-standardized d', it remains comparable across conditions that differ in sdratio; see the sensitivity section of sdt_yn() for the reasoning, for how far the two indices lie apart, and for the caveat that under the Gumbel distributions d_a is not the AUC-equivalent index once sdratio is estimated.

The criterion and the confidence thresholds are not rescaled. They stay on the noise-standardized axis, so under unequal variance they and d are in different units.

The dpsdt and metad versions inherit the same convention: d there describes the familiarity (type-1) distributions, and meta-d' is scaled the same way, which leaves the M-ratio invariant to sdratio.

Where criterion and bias sit

Every threshold_type places the criterion the same way. With an even number of categories K it is the middle threshold, the boundary between the K/2 "noise" categories and the K/2 "signal" categories. With an odd number there is no such boundary – the middle category straddles it – so the criterion is the centre of that category, and the two thresholds around it sit half an interval below and above. A shift in the criterion therefore moves the whole threshold set, and the threshold parameters (spacing, delta) describe its shape around that point.

As in sdt_yn(), the formula estimates that point either as criterion, measured from the mean of the noise distribution, or as bias, measured from the midpoint between the noise and signal means (bias = criterion - d * sqrt((1 + exp(sdratio)^2) / 2) / 2); a formula that names neither estimates criterion ~ 1. The two differ in what a linear formula holds constant when d or sdratio varies; the section "Choosing between criterion and bias" of sdt_yn() says which to choose. Threshold locations reported by sdt_thresholds() and latent_sdt(), and the thresholds taken by rsdt_rating() and its siblings, are positions measured from the noise mean.

Identifying sdratio

Unlike sdt_yn(), a rating design identifies sdratio from a single condition: the K - 1 thresholds give K - 1 operating points per condition, which trace the ROC; under dist = "normal" its z-transform is a line with slope 1 / exp(sdratio). sdratio ~ 1 on a one-condition dataset is identified from K = 3 categories, where it uses every degree of freedom (the fit is saturated), and leaves the zROC testable from K = 4; the identification caveats on the sdt_yn() page do not carry over.

References

Yonelinas, A. P. (1994). Receiver-operating characteristics in recognition memory: Evidence for a dual-process model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20(6), 1341–1354.

Yonelinas, A. P. (2024). The role of recollection and familiarity in visual working memory: A mixture of threshold and signal detection processes. Psychological Review, 131(2), 321–348. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1037/rev0000432")}

Maniscalco, B., & Lau, H. (2012). A signal detection theoretic approach for estimating metacognitive sensitivity from confidence ratings. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(1), 422–430.

Maniscalco, B., & Lau, H. (2014). Signal detection theory analysis of type 1 and type 2 data: meta-d', response-specific meta-d', and the unequal variance SDT model. In S. M. Fleming & C. D. Frith (Eds.), The cognitive neuroscience of metacognition (pp. 25–66). Springer.

Fleming, S. M. (2017). HMeta-d: hierarchical Bayesian estimation of metacognitive efficiency from confidence ratings. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2017(1), nix007. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1093/nc/nix007")}

Green, D. M., & Swets, J. A. (1966). Signal detection theory and psychophysics. Wiley.

Selker, R., van den Bergh, D., Criss, A. H., & Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2019). Parsimonious estimation of signal detection models from confidence ratings. Behavior Research Methods, 51(5), 1953–1967. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.3758/s13428-019-01231-3")}

Paulewicz, B., & Blaut, A. (2022). The general causal cumulative model of ordinal response. PsyArXiv. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.31234/osf.io/e7a3x")}

Examples

## Not run: 
# EV-SDT rating model
dat <- expand.grid(id = 1:20, stimulus = c(0L, 1L))
dat <- cbind(dat, rsdt_rating(nrow(dat), 200, dat$stimulus,
                              d = 1.5, thresholds = c(0.25, 0.75, 1.25)))

model <- sdt_rating(
  response = c("r1", "r2", "r3", "r4"),
  stimulus = "stimulus"
)

fit <- bmm(
  formula = bmf(d ~ 1, criterion ~ 1, spacing ~ 1),
  data = dat,
  model = model,
  cores = 4,
  backend = "cmdstanr"
)

# UV-SDT: add sdratio to the formula
fit_uv <- bmm(
  formula = bmf(d ~ 1, criterion ~ 1, spacing ~ 1, sdratio ~ 1),
  data = dat,
  model = model,
  cores = 4,
  backend = "cmdstanr"
)

# Dual-process SDT: free recollection of old items (one-sided) or both
# old and new items (two-sided) via the formula
model_dp <- sdt_rating(c("r1", "r2", "r3", "r4"), "stimulus", version = "dpsdt")
fit_dp <- bmm(bmf(d ~ 1, criterion ~ 1, spacing ~ 1, Ro ~ 1, Rn ~ 1),
              data = dat, model = model_dp, backend = "cmdstanr")

# Meta-d': estimate metacognitive efficiency (log M-ratio)
model_md <- sdt_rating(c("r1", "r2", "r3", "r4"), "stimulus", version = "metad")
fit_md <- bmm(bmf(d ~ 1, criterion ~ 1, spacing ~ 1, logmratio ~ 1),
              data = dat, model = model_md, backend = "cmdstanr")
mratio(fit_md) # posterior M-ratio (meta-d'/d')

## End(Not run)

bmm documentation built on Oct. 16, 2026, 9:08 a.m.