A signal detection theory analysis of behavioral pattern separation paradigms
- 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
- 2Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
- 3F. M. Kirby Research Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
- Corresponding author: rloioti1{at}jhu.edu
Abstract
Behavioral pattern separation (BPS) paradigms ask participants to discriminate previously encoded (old) stimuli from highly similar (lure) and categorically distinct (novel) stimuli. The lure-old discrimination, thought to uniquely reflect pattern separation in the hippocampal formation, is typically pitted against the traditional novel-old discrimination. However, BPS paradigms have measured lure-old discrimination neither consistently across studies nor in such a way that allows for accurate comparison to novel-old discrimination. Therefore, we advocate for signal detection theory (SDT) as a unified framework. Moreover, we compare SDT with previously used measures of lure-old discrimination, indicating how other formulas’ inaccuracies can lead to erroneous conclusions.
Footnotes
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Article is online at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.038141.115.
- Received January 16, 2015.
- Accepted June 5, 2015.
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