Soft transition from probabilistic to possibilistic fuzzy clustering

In the fuzzy clustering literature, two main types of membership are usually considered: A relative type, termed probabilistic, and an absolute or possibilistic type, indicating the strength of the attribution to any cluster independent from the rest. There are works addressing the unification of the two schemes. Here, we focus on providing a model for the transition from one schema to the other, to exploit the dual information given by the two schemes, and to add flexibility for the interpretation of results. We apply an uncertainty model based on interval values to memberships in the clustering framework, obtaining a framework that we term graded possibility. We outline a basic example of graded possibilistic clustering algorithm and add some practical remarks about its implementation. The experimental demonstrations presented highlight the different properties attainable through appropriate implementation of a suitable graded possibilistic model. An interesting application is found in automated segmentation of diagnostic medical images, where the model provides an interactive visualization tool for this task.