Distortions, cognitive model

The cognitive model, in which certain life experiences contribute to the development of pervasive cognitive schemas or cognitive distortions—negative mental sets and expectations that automatically influence ongoing perceptions, conclusions, and predictions about the future (Beck, Ellis)... 

In order to be able to model this cognitive effect it was necessary to quantify to what extent a distortion, as found by the model, resulted from leaving out a time-frequency component or from the introduction of a new time-frequency component in the signal. One problem was that when a distortion is introduced in the signal at a certain time-frequency point there will in general already be a certain power level at that point. Therefore a time-frequency component will never be completely new. A first approach to quantify the asymmetry was to use the power ratio between output and input at a certain time-frequency point to quantify the newness of this component. When the power ratio between the output y and input x, py /px at a certain time-frequency point is larger than 1.0 an audible distortion is assumed more annoying than when this ratio is less than 1.0. 

When an individual is under stress, information processing becomes disordered and manifests itself as distorted thinking, emotional distress and associated maladaptive patterns of behaviour. In this model, cognitions mediate directly between stressful life events and emotional distress. 

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