Brain criticality through nonadditive entropic analysis of electroencephalograms

On the grounds of nonadditive entropies – appropriate for complex systems – we investigate the electroencephalogram amplitudes of typical and ADHD children. The corresponding probability distributions are $q$-Gaussians, i.e., $\rho (x)\propto e_q^{-\beta x^2}\equiv [1+(q-1)\beta x^2{]}^{1\mathrm{/}(1-q)}$, where $(q,\beta )$ are, respectively, the entropic index characterizing complexity and the inverse width. We show that $q$ tends to monotonically vary with $\beta$ for both typical and ADHD subjects, thus revealing critical behavior of the brain. Moreover, we verify that ADHD subjects have a higher complexity than the typical ones. Consistently, biomarkers for objective phychyatric diagnosis could emerge along this path. We show that $q$ tends to monotonically vary with $\beta$ for both typical and ADHD subjects, thus revealing critical behavior of the brain. Moreover, we verify that ADHD subjects have a higher complexity than the typical ones. Consistently, biomarkers for objective phychyatric diagnosis could emerge along this path.