A Factor Analytic Study of Three Signal Detection Abilities

Abstract

This factor analytic study represents an expanded effort toward stating clearly the simplicity or complexity of signal detection ability. Nineteen different tests of signal detection were constructed and administered twice under controlled conditions to 71 normal-hearing young men, together with six ‘tag’ tests of discriminations for pitch and loudness. As a check, a single administration of the battery under somewhat less well-controlled conditions was given to 760 young men in groups of up to 50. The results of this and previous factor analytic studies of signal detection lead to the conclusion that a Speech Masking Factor, a Loudness Masking Factor and a Complex Noise Masking Factor explain most if not all the variance in any number of signal detection tasks. Generally low intercorrelations among tests of signal detection result not from a factorially complex domain but from the generally low unreliability of many such tests.