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SINGLE‐POINT VERSUS TIME‐INTENSITY SENSORY MEASUREMENTS: AN INFORMATIONAL ENTROPY ANALYSIS 1
Author(s) -
LEE III WILLIAM E.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of sensory studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1745-459X
pISSN - 0887-8250
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-459x.1989.tb00455.x
Subject(s) - scaling , intensity (physics) , entropy (arrow of time) , mathematics , information theory , single point , statistics , sensory system , point (geometry) , time point , series (stratigraphy) , statistical physics , computer science , physics , optics , thermodynamics , psychology , computer simulation , geometry , acoustics , cognitive psychology , paleontology , biology
. Single‐point sensory response measurement techniques such as magnitude estimation and category scaling only contain a limited amount of information. Time‐intensity (T‐I) data collection techniques provide much more information, addressing rate‐related and duration aspects as well as intensity quantification. A theoretical analysis and comparison of single‐point and T‐I responses is presented from an informational (Shannon) entropy content viewpoint. The analysis is based on a hypothetical T‐I response curve and a hypothetical series of single‐point measurements attempting to approximate the T‐I curve. Assuming a 15 s sensory event the associated T‐I response of a single parameter is shown to contain a significantly greater amount of potential information storage capacity relative to the single‐point or a small series of single‐point measurements attempting to generate temporal behavior. Theoretically, the T‐I response also displays greater quantities of a parameter called information density. Finally, it may be hypothesized that T‐I techniques can be shown to be more efficient in terms of rate of information acquisition.