receiver-operating characteristic

5.52  receiver-operating characteristic. Summary of the performance of a detector, expressed by a functional relation between detection probability and false alarm probability. These are conditional probabilities; that is, the probability that the condition (signal present or signal absent) is true. Often presented graphically as a family of non-intersecting curves plotted with either constant detectability index or constant signal-to-noise ratio as the parameter. Each curve shows how detection probability and false-alarm probability vary monotonically as a function of the decision criteria (operating point) of the detector. Abbreviation, ROC.

Annotation         A detector may be a subject or any other decision-making device.