1. A method for pattern recognition, comprising: forming a sequence of feature vectors from a digitized incoming signal, said feature vectors comprising feature vector components, comparing at least one feature vector with templates of candidate patterns by computing a distortion measure including distortion measure contributions, formulating a control signal based on at least one time-dependent variable of the recognition process, and for said at least one feature vector, computing only a subset of said distortion measure contributions using the vector components of said at least one feature vector, said subset being chosen in accordance with said control signal.