Simulation of human sensory performance.

The capacity of human sensory systems for transmitting information has been approximated in the past by using statistical estimators. However, a substantial margin of error remained. The problem is that the error can be reduced to a negligible level only by increasing the number of human trials or tests to the order of about 10(4). Since a human subject can perform at peak only in the order of 10(2) trials per day, the requisite total number of trials could be obtained realistically only by pooling of data from several subjects. Following Houtsma, we have overcome this problem to a large extent by the use of computer simulation. By introducing parameters characteristic of a given subject into the simulation program, we are able to reproduce the subject's performance (say for 500 trials), and to extrapolate his or her performance using the simulation program to 30000 trials. In this way we can establish limits to the capacity of a single human being to transmit information.