INFOBITS - A VISUAL BASIC PROGRAM FOR CALCULATING INFORMATION-THEORETIC STATISTICS FROM BEHAVIOR SEQUENCES

We describe a Visual Basic add-in macro program for Microsoft Excel 5 and 7 (and later versions) that calculates basic, first-order, informa tion theoretic statistics from matrices based on behavior sequences, s uch as those from animal or human interaction studies. Information the oretic statistics measure association between behavioral events in bit s, a unit that is independent of the particular system under study. A sample sire bias correction of the value for the mean information tran smission (Ht) is included in the program. A normalization of Ht report s the efficiency of information transmission relative to the amount of information in the system. The program incorporates an iterative pseu do-random resampling algorithm that reports a confidence level (P) for Ht. Mean information transmission is partialized, to determine the re lative contribution of each behavior category to Ht. An algorithm for calculating confidence intervals allows comparison among different mat rices. The program runs in a common spreadsheet, and is therefore usef ul to researchers or students who only have access to desktop or lapto p microcomputers.