1. A method for determining the amount of a target analyte in a fluid sample, comprising: a) providing a fluid sample; b) providing an assay device, the assay device comprising a test area that displays a measurable spatiotemporal pattern in response to an application of the fluid sample, the spatiotemporal pattern providing information related to the amount of target analyte present in the applied fluid sample and information related to the flow dynamics of the assay device; c) providing an imaging instrument operatively connected to the assay device, wherein the imaging instrument is capable of collecting and recording the spatiotemporal pattern as a set of numerical spatiotemporal data points; d) providing a computing device, operatively connected to the imaging instrument, wherein the computing device comprises an executable software program capable of analyzing the set of numerical spatiotemporal data points from the imaging instrument so as to calculate the amount of target analyte present in the fluid sample; e) applying the fluid sample to the assay device so as to induce the spatiotemporal pattern on the assay device; f) collecting a sufficient number of spatiotemporal data points from the spatiotemporal pattern of step e) on the imaging instrument to provide the set of numerical spatiotemporal data points for analysis; and g) analyzing the set of numerical spatiotemporal data points with the software program so as to determine the amount of target analyte in the fluid sample.