Threshold model

A plot of normal distribution (or bell-shaped curve) where each band has a width of 1 standard deviation. If the threshold is 2 standard deviations above the mean of the latent variable, then about 2.4% of the population would have the trait.

In mathematical or statistical modeling a threshold model is any model where a threshold value, or set of threshold values, is used to distinguish ranges of values where the behaviour predicted by the model varies in some important way. A particularly important instance arises in toxicology, where the model for the effect of a drug may be that there is zero effect for a dose below a critical or threshold value, while an effect of some significance exists above that value.[1] Certain types of regression model may include threshold effects.[1]

  1. ^ a b Dodge, Y. (2003) The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms, OUP. ISBN 0-19-850994-4