Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time Series

We present a framework for the estimation of transfer entropy (TE) under the conditions typical of physiological system analysis, featuring short multivariate time series and the presence of instantaneous causality (IC). The framework is based on recognizing that TE can be interpreted as the differe...

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Main Authors: Alberto Porta, Giandomenico Nollo, Luca Faes
Format: Article
Sprog:English
Udgivet: MDPI AG 2013-01-01
Serier:Entropy
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Online adgang:http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/1/198
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author Alberto Porta
Giandomenico Nollo
Luca Faes
author_facet Alberto Porta
Giandomenico Nollo
Luca Faes
author_sort Alberto Porta
collection DOAJ
description We present a framework for the estimation of transfer entropy (TE) under the conditions typical of physiological system analysis, featuring short multivariate time series and the presence of instantaneous causality (IC). The framework is based on recognizing that TE can be interpreted as the difference between two conditional entropy (CE) terms, and builds on an efficient CE estimator that compensates for the bias occurring for high dimensional conditioning vectors and follows a sequential embedding procedure whereby the conditioning vectors are formed progressively according to a criterion for CE minimization. The issue of IC is faced accounting for zero-lag interactions according to two alternative empirical strategies: if IC is deemed as physiologically meaningful, zero-lag effects are assimilated to lagged effects to make them causally relevant; if not, zero-lag effects are incorporated in both CE terms to obtain a compensation. The resulting compensated TE (cTE) estimator is tested on simulated time series, showing that its utilization improves sensitivity (from 61% to 96%) and specificity (from 5/6 to 0/6 false positives) in the detection of information transfer respectively when instantaneous effect are causally meaningful and non-meaningful. Then, it is evaluated on examples of cardiovascular and neurological time series, supporting the feasibility of the proposed framework for the investigation of physiological mechanisms.
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spelling doaj.art-5c99f5b8a61f4d2bbbe666c079e28b622022-12-22T04:19:49ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002013-01-0115119821910.3390/e15010198Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time SeriesAlberto PortaGiandomenico NolloLuca FaesWe present a framework for the estimation of transfer entropy (TE) under the conditions typical of physiological system analysis, featuring short multivariate time series and the presence of instantaneous causality (IC). The framework is based on recognizing that TE can be interpreted as the difference between two conditional entropy (CE) terms, and builds on an efficient CE estimator that compensates for the bias occurring for high dimensional conditioning vectors and follows a sequential embedding procedure whereby the conditioning vectors are formed progressively according to a criterion for CE minimization. The issue of IC is faced accounting for zero-lag interactions according to two alternative empirical strategies: if IC is deemed as physiologically meaningful, zero-lag effects are assimilated to lagged effects to make them causally relevant; if not, zero-lag effects are incorporated in both CE terms to obtain a compensation. The resulting compensated TE (cTE) estimator is tested on simulated time series, showing that its utilization improves sensitivity (from 61% to 96%) and specificity (from 5/6 to 0/6 false positives) in the detection of information transfer respectively when instantaneous effect are causally meaningful and non-meaningful. Then, it is evaluated on examples of cardiovascular and neurological time series, supporting the feasibility of the proposed framework for the investigation of physiological mechanisms.http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/1/198cardiovascular variabilityconditional entropyinstantaneous causalitymagnetoencephalographytime delay embedding
spellingShingle Alberto Porta
Giandomenico Nollo
Luca Faes
Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time Series
Entropy
cardiovascular variability
conditional entropy
instantaneous causality
magnetoencephalography
time delay embedding
title Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time Series
title_full Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time Series
title_fullStr Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time Series
title_full_unstemmed Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time Series
title_short Compensated Transfer Entropy as a Tool for Reliably Estimating Information Transfer in Physiological Time Series
title_sort compensated transfer entropy as a tool for reliably estimating information transfer in physiological time series
topic cardiovascular variability
conditional entropy
instantaneous causality
magnetoencephalography
time delay embedding
url http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/1/198
work_keys_str_mv AT albertoporta compensatedtransferentropyasatoolforreliablyestimatinginformationtransferinphysiologicaltimeseries
AT giandomeniconollo compensatedtransferentropyasatoolforreliablyestimatinginformationtransferinphysiologicaltimeseries
AT lucafaes compensatedtransferentropyasatoolforreliablyestimatinginformationtransferinphysiologicaltimeseries