A Robust Method for Detecting Interdependences: Application to Intracranially Recorded EEG

Abstract

We present a measure for characterizing statistical relationships between two time sequences. In contrast to commonly used measures like cross-correlations, coherence and mutual information, the proposed measure is non-symmetric and provides information about the direction of interdependence. It is closely related to recent attempts to detect generalized synchronization. However, we do not assume a strict functional relationship between the two time sequences and try to define the measure so as to be robust against noise, and to detect also weak interdependences. We apply our measure to intracranially recorded electroencephalograms of patients suffering from severe epilepsies.