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A Methodological Note: Comparison Between Period and Rate Data in Studies of Cardiac Function
Author(s) -
Khachaturian Z. S.,
Kerr J.,
Kruger R.,
Schachter J.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1972.tb01809.x
Subject(s) - skewness , psychology , variance (accounting) , statistics , period (music) , convention , function (biology) , econometrics , mathematics , economics , political science , physics , accounting , evolutionary biology , acoustics , biology , law
The purpose of this study was to compare two methods of analyzing EKG data, period (R–R intervals) and frequency (heart rate). Simulated data as well as EKGs recorded from newborn infants were utilized to show the effects of transforming cardiac periods into frequencies. The results showed that this transformation introduces errors, which are reflected in the mean, variance, and the degree of skewness of the basic data. It is argued that the widely used convention of transforming period data into heart rate should not be used without valid justification.