Measuring Threshold Performance in Behavioral Experiments

A primary tool for the experimental psychologist is the use of 'psychophysics', which is the quantitative measurement sensory experience as measured with behavioral responses. A common psychophysical measure is the 'threshold', which is the weakest stimulus needed to be reliably detected. Psychophysicists have standard methods for measuring thresholds which involves concepts and procedures including signal detection theory, maximum likelihood model fitting and bootstrapping. I will provide a general overview of the psychophysical methods for threshold measurement, hopefully in a context that a statistician might find interesting.