
Psychophysics 83
4.6 MULTIDIMENSIONAL STIMULI
Conventional signal detection theory is rooted in the assumption that the
signal has a 1- D characteristic for discrimination such as its brightness or
loudness. Real- world stimuli, however, are seldom that simple. Brightness is
only one characteristic of a light, which is its black- gray- white continuum.
Lights also vary by hue (e.g., the chromatic colors that we know as yellow,
red, green, blue, orange, and purple) and saturation (the relative amounts
of chromic versus black- white content). We have also seen that lights are
detected in a location, which thus adds one or more spatial components ...