PAL_AMUD() doesn't apply 'up' and 'down' criteria until first reversal
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2023 7:12 am
I've been working through some data from a student who is using PAL_AMUD() to run a simple 1-up 3-down staircase. We've noticed an unexpected behaviour in that the function appears to act like a '1-up 1-down' until after the first reversal.
In principle, this behaviour makes sense, since it means we move towards threshold more quickly early on in the experiment. However, we were just a little concerned as we didn't explicitly request this behaviour. There doesn't appear to be an option in PAL_AMUD_setupUD() to control this behaviour. This can be reproduced by initialising a staircase and recording a response as follows:
From the above, I would expect that you would have to respond '1' three times in a row in order for the procedure to suggest a different 'x' level. However, 'x' is changed after just one trial. I notice that if we have a single trial in which the response value is '0', i.e.:
...Then after this, we do start to get the expected behaviour, i.e. it takes three '1's in a row for x to change. My question is have I interpreted this correctly, i.e. am I right in thinking that it's the first reversal that triggers the '3-down' aspect coming into play and is there any way to control / turn off this behaviour in Palamedes?
As I said, it's not a problem and actually makes a lot of sense; I just wasn't expecting this behaviour without requesting it and can't see any way to change it.
In principle, this behaviour makes sense, since it means we move towards threshold more quickly early on in the experiment. However, we were just a little concerned as we didn't explicitly request this behaviour. There doesn't appear to be an option in PAL_AMUD_setupUD() to control this behaviour. This can be reproduced by initialising a staircase and recording a response as follows:
Code: Select all
StaircaseObject = PAL_AMUD_setupUD('up',1,'down',3);
StaircaseObject = PAL_AMUD_updateUD(StaircaseObject,1)Code: Select all
StaircaseObject = PAL_AMUD_updateUD(StaircaseObject,0)As I said, it's not a problem and actually makes a lot of sense; I just wasn't expecting this behaviour without requesting it and can't see any way to change it.