Janice and Brandon are siblings. Janice asks Brandon if he heard her cell phone ring. Brandon tells her that it did not ring. Janice, convinced that she heard her cell phone ring, rushes to her room to check, but she finds that the phone actually did not ring. Signal detection theorists would label Janice's perception of the cell phone ringing as a ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Janice believed she heard her cell phone ring when it did not, which is considered a false alarm in signal detection theory. This occurs when someone perceives a signal (in this case, the phone ringing) that was not actually present.

Janice and Brandon Are Siblings