>Psychtoolbox>Quest

q=QuestCreate(tGuess,tGuessSd,pThreshold,beta,delta,gamma,[grain],[range],[plotIt])

Create a struct q with all the information necessary to measure
threshold. Threshold “t” is measured on an abstract “intensity”
scale, which usually corresponds to log10 contrast.

QuestCreate saves in struct q the parameters for a Weibull psychometric function:
p2=delta*gamma+(1-delta)*(1-(1-gamma)*exp(-10.^(beta*(x-xThreshold))));
where x represents log10 contrast relative to threshold. The Weibull
function itself appears only in QuestRecompute, which uses the
specified parameter values in q to compute a psychometric function
and store it in q. All the other Quest functions simply use the
psychometric function stored in “q”. QuestRecompute is called solely
by QuestCreate and QuestBetaAnalysis (and possibly by a few user
programs). Thus, if you prefer to use a different kind of
psychometric function, called Foo, you need only create your own
QuestCreateFoo, QuestRecomputeFoo, and (if you need it)
QuestBetaAnalysisFoo, based on QuestCreate, QuestRecompute, and
QuestBetaAnalysis, and you can use them with the rest of the Quest
package unchanged. You would only be changing a few lines of code,
so it would quite easy to do.

Several users of Quest have asked questions on the Psychtoolbox forum
about how to restrict themselves to a practical testing range. That is
not what tGuessSd and “range” are for; they should be large, e.g. I
typically set tGuessSd=3 and range=5 when intensity represents log
contrast. If necessary, you should restrict the range yourself, outside
of Quest. Here, in QuestCreate, you tell Quest about your prior beliefs,
and you should try to be open-minded, giving Quest a generously large
range to consider as possible values of threshold. For each trial you
will later ask Quest to suggest a test intensity. It is important to
realize that what Quest returns is just what you asked for, a
suggestion. You should then test at whatever intensity you like, taking
into account both the suggestion and any practical constraints (e.g. a
maximum and minimum contrast that you can achieve, and quantization of
contrast). After running the trial you should call QuestUpdate with the
contrast that you actually used and the observer’s response to add your
new datum to the database. Don’t restrict “tGuessSd” or “range” by the
limitations of what you can display. Keep open the possibility that
threshold may lie outside the range of contrasts that you can produce,
and let Quest consider all possibilities.

There is one exception to the above advice of always being generous with
tGuessSd. Occasionally we find that we have a working Quest-based
program that measures threshold, and we discover that we need to measure
the proportion correct at a particular intensity. Instead of writing a
new program, or modifying the old one, it is often more convenient to
instead reduce tGuessSd to practically zero, e.g. a value like 0.001,
which has the effect of restricting all threshold estimates to be
practically identical to tGuess, making it easy to run any number of
trials at that intensity. Of course, in this case, the final threshold
estimate from Quest should be ignored, since it is merely parroting back
to you the assertion that threshold is equal to the initial guess
“tGuess”. What’s of interest is the final proportion correct; at the
end, call QuestTrials or add an FPRINTF statement to report it.

tGuess is your prior threshold estimate.
tGuessSd is the standard deviation you assign to that guess. Be generous.
pThreshold is your threshold criterion expressed as probability of
response==1. An intensity offset is introduced into the psychometric
function so that threshold (i.e. the midpoint of the table) yields
pThreshold.
beta, delta, and gamma are the parameters of a Weibull psychometric function.
beta controls the steepness of the psychometric function. Typically 3.5.
delta is the fraction of trials on which the observer presses blindly.
Typically 0.01.
gamma is the fraction of trials that will generate response 1 when
intensity==-inf.
grain is the quantization (step size) of the internal table. E.g. 0.01.
range is the intensity difference between the largest and smallest
intensity that the internal table can store. E.g. 5. This interval will
be centered on the initial guess tGuess, i.e.
tGuess+(-range/2:grain:range/2). “range” is used only momentarily here,
to determine “dim”, which is retained in the quest struct. “dim” is the
number of distinct intensities that the internal table can store, e.g.
500. QUEST assumes that intensities outside of this interval have zero
prior probability, i.e. they are impossible values for threshold. The
cost of making “range” too big is some extra storage and computation,
which are usually negligible. The cost of making “range” too small is
that you prejudicially exclude what are actually possible values for
threshold. Getting out-of-range warnings from QuestUpdate is one
possible indication that your stated range is too small.

See Quest.