Detection and identification: how are they related?

Abstract

Detection and identification are described as using the same base of sensory information but applying different decision processes. Consistent with this view, there is no evidence of different sensory cutoffs for the two tasks, and accuracies in the two tasks vary as a function of stimulus strength in closely related fashion. Identification accuracy also depends on the extent to which stimuli are processed independently, and the quantitative relationship between identification and detection can be used to estimate the degree of independence.