Stochastic resonance and generalized information measures

We use Tsallis' information measure and the recently advanced "escort-Tsallis" one in order to investigate the stochastic resonance (SR) phenomenon. In particular, on the basis of these generalized information measures (GIM), both characterized by a non-extensivity parameter q, we study the effect of modifying the type of noise. The GIM are used to measure SR phenomenon comparing the input and output probability distributions, finding that for the range of noise intensities enhancing SR, q --> 0 gives the optimum measure. An important advantage of using GIM instead of Shannon's measure is the possibility of detecting smaller signal amplitudes with the former than with the latter one. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.