Estimation and interpretation of 1/fα noise in human cognition

Abstract

Recent analyses of serial correlations in cognitive tasks have provided preliminary evidence of the presence of a particular form of long-range serial dependence known as 1/f noise. It has been argued that long-range dependence has been largely ignored in mainstream cognitive psychology even though it accounts for a substantial proportion of variability in behavior (see, e.g., Gilden, 1997Gilden, , 2001. In this article, we discuss the defining characteristics of long-range dependence and argue that claims about its presence need to be evaluated by testing against the alternative hypothesis of short-range dependence. For the data from three experiments, we accomplish such tests with autoregressive fractionally integrated moving-average time series modeling. We find that long-range serial dependence in these experiments can be explained by any of several mechanisms, including mixtures of a small number of short-range processes. THEORETICAL AND REVIEW ARTICLES

Detecting and predicting changes

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Strong anticipation: complexity matching in interpersonal coordination

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Musical rhythm spectra from Bach to Joplin obey a 1/ f power law

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