Researchers have employed a variety of laboratory analogues of cryptic prey detection and applied signal detection to study factors influencing learning and performance in these ethological and applied scenarios. However, these procedural analogues do not appear to map closely onto their “real-world” counterparts, particularly with respect to the role of the “yes” (i.e., “attack”) response and the payoff for this response (or its absence) on signal-present and signal-absent trials. Using domestic hens, we developed a procedural analogue in which a “yes” response requires some time to emit; such responses were reinforced only in the presence of a signal. In Experiment 1, we evaluated the influence of the “yes” response requirement by manipulating the number of responses required to qualify as a “yes” response. As the “yes” response requirement was increased, bias toward responding “no” increased, revealing that this is a critical factor controlling accuracy in this procedure. In Experiment 2, we evaluated the influence of signal probability and reinforcement rate on signal detection accuracy and found that neither of these factors significantly influenced accuracy or bias. These findings suggest that this procedural analogue may represent a valuable alternative for studying behaviour in relevant signal detection scenarios.

研究人员采用了各种实验室模拟的隐性猎物检测方法和信号检测方法，以研究影响这些行为和应用场景中学习和表现的因素。但是，这些程序类似物似乎并未紧密地映射到它们的“真实世界”对应物上，特别是在“是”（即“攻击”）响应的作用以及该响应的回报（或不存在）方面在有信号和无信号试验中。我们使用家养母鸡开发了一种程序类似物，其中“是”的反应需要一些时间才能发出。只有在有信号存在的情况下，这种反应才能得到加强。在实验1中，我们通过操纵需要作为“是”响应的响应数来评估“是”响应要求的影响。随着“是”响应要求的增加，对“否”响应的偏见也增加了，这表明这是控制此过程准确性的关键因素。在实验2中，我们评估了信号概率和增强率对信号检测精度的影响，发现这些因素均未显着影响精度或偏差。这些发现表明，该程序类似物可能是研究相关信号检测方案中行为的有价值的替代方案。