Submitted:
31 October 2025
Posted:
03 November 2025
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Abstract
EEG recordings are usually interpreted as real signals of brain activity, yet they are composed of both real and imaginary orthogonal components. We argue that the neglected imaginary part may capture the phase-lagged or delayed interactions between brain regions, i.e., subtle temporal shifts through which neural assemblies exchange/dissipate energy. We propose here imaginary entropy as a quantitative index of time-lagged coupling diversity, derived from the Hilbert-transformed analytic representation of EEG signals. By normalizing the absolute imaginary amplitudes and calculating their Shannon entropy, could quantify how widely the brain’s dissipative interactions are spread across time and space, capturing the extent to which energy exchanges are concentrated or distributed within cortical activity. We showed that resting-state EEG recordings from healthy adults yielded consistent values with little variation across individuals. Comparisons with theoretical simulations including white, pink, and brown noise as well as damped oscillators demonstrated that empirical values align closely with those of pink-to-brown noise, i.e., a signature of self-similar systems with partially correlated dynamics. Grounding the analysis of brain activity in the physical concepts of complex response and energy dissipation traditionally linked to imaginary components, uncovers a hidden dimension of neural dynamics that reflects the balance between coherence and dissipation. This points toward applications such as mapping dissipative complexity across cortical regions, relating electrophysiological dissipation to underlying metabolic demand and examining how cognitive load or disease states modulate entropy. Background. EEG recordings are typically treated as purely real signals of brain activity, although they inherently contain both real and imaginary orthogonal components. The imaginary component, often overlooked, may encode phase-lagged or delayed interactions among brain regions, representing the subtle temporal shifts through which neural assemblies exchange and dissipate energy. New method. We introduce imaginary entropy as a quantitative index of time-lagged coupling diversity. Derived from the Hilbert-transformed analytic representation of EEG signals, is computed by normalizing absolute imaginary amplitudes and calculating their Shannon entropy, thus quantifying how broadly dissipative interactions are distributed across time and cortical space. Results. Resting-state EEG data from healthy adults yielded stable values with minimal interindividual variation. Simulations of white, pink and brown noise, as well as damped oscillators, showed that empirical S_im values closely matched those of pink-to-brown noise, consistent with partially correlated, self-similar systems. Comparison with existing methods. Unlike conventional EEG metrics based on power spectra or phase coherence, isolates the imaginary component directly, linking it to energy dissipation rather than synchronous activity. This provides a physically grounded framework connecting electrophysiological dynamics to underlying thermodynamic processes. Conclusions. Grounded in complex response theory, reveals a hidden layer of neural dynamics reflecting the balance between coherence and dissipation. Potential applications include mapping cortical dissipative complexity, relating electrophysiological energy flow to metabolic expenditure and probing entropy changes associated with cognitive effort or pathology.
Keywords:
Introduction
Methods
Results
Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate
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Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process
Acknowledgements
Competing Interests
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