Schank J C
Center for the integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405, USA.
Am J Primatol. 1997;41(2):65-85. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2345(1997)41:2<65::AID-AJP1>3.0.CO;2-X.
Synchrony is surprisingly complex even in the simplest cases. One strategy for simplifying complex phenomena is to define a dimensionless measurement model with the aim of (1) finding order, (2) comparing complex phenomena, and (3) making decisions about statistical significance. However, a model is only as good as its assumptions. In this paper, several types of dimensionless measurement models of synchrony among biological states are evaluated using the preceding criteria. These dimensionless measurement models are found to be inadequate even in the simplest cases of N individuals cycling through k non-overlapping states. Moreover, independent of their adequacy as measures of synchrony, there is the additional problem of the applicability of biological-state measurement models to rhythmic biological processes. Biological states are often just quantized observations of the phases of rhythmic biological processes. With the help of a concrete example, it is shown that quantizing the phases of a process into discrete states can lead to serious errors. These conclusions do not imply that the study of synchrony in biological systems is intractable. There are statistical approaches for detecting synchrony in groups and researchers are making progress towards understanding the general mechanisms of rhythmic phenomena in biological systems.
即使在最简单的情况下，同步现象也惊人地复杂。简化复杂现象的一种策略是定义一个无量纲测量模型，目的是：（1）找到规律；（2）比较复杂现象；（3）对统计显著性做出决策。然而，一个模型的优劣取决于其假设。在本文中，使用上述标准对几种生物状态间同步性的无量纲测量模型进行了评估。结果发现，即使在N个个体循环经历k个不重叠状态的最简单情况下，这些无量纲测量模型也并不充分。此外，抛开其作为同步性度量的充分性不谈，生物状态测量模型应用于有节奏的生物过程还存在另外一个问题。生物状态通常只是有节奏的生物过程各阶段的量化观测值。通过一个具体例子表明，将一个过程的阶段量化为离散状态可能会导致严重错误。这些结论并不意味着生物系统中同步性的研究是难以处理的。有一些统计方法可用于检测群体中的同步性，研究人员在理解生物系统中有节奏现象的一般机制方面也正在取得进展。
