A test of the optimal classifier's independence assumption in perceptual categorization

Observers completed perceptual categorization tasks that included separate base-rate/payoff manipulations, corresponding simultaneous base-rate/payoff manipulations, and conflicting simultaneous base-rate/payoff manipulations. Performance (1) was closer to optimal for 2:1 than for 3:1 base-rate/payoff ratios and when base rates as opposed to payoffs were manipulated, and (2) was more in line with the predictions from the flat-maxima hypothesis than from the independence assumption of the optimal classifier in corresponding and conflicting simultaneous base-rate/payoff conditions. A hybrid model that instantiated simultaneously the flat-maxima and the competition between reward and accuracy maximization (COBRA) hypotheses was applied to the data. The hybrid model was superior to a model that incorporated the independence assumption, suggesting that violations of the independence assumption are to be expected and are well captured by the flat-maxima hypothesis without requiring any additional assumptions. The parameters indicated that observers' reward-maximizing decision criterion rapidly approaches the optimal value and that more weight is placed on accuracy maximization in separate and corresponding simultaneous base-rate/payoff conditions than in conflicting simultaneous base-rate/payoff conditions.