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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Applications of EEG Neuroimaging Data: Event-related Potentials, Spectral Power, and Multiscale Entropy
Published on: June 27, 2013
Brain, music, and non-Poisson renewal processes
Simone Bianco1, Massimiliano Ignaccolo, Mark S Rider
1Center for Nonlinear Science, University of North Texas, P.O. Box 311427, Denton, Texas 76203-1427, USA.
Abstract:
In this paper we show that both music composition and brain function, as revealed by the electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis, are renewal non-Poisson processes living in the nonergodic dominion. To reach this important conclusion we process the data with the minimum spanning tree method, so as to detect significant events, thereby building a sequence of times, which is the time series to analyze. Then we show that in both cases, EEG and music composition, these significant events are the signature of a non-Poisson renewal process. This conclusion is reached using a technique of statistical analysis recently developed by our group, the aging experiment (AE). First, we find that in both cases the distances between two consecutive events are described by nonexponential histograms, thereby proving the non-Poisson nature of these processes. The corresponding survival probabilities Psi(t) are well fitted by stretched exponentials [Psi(t) proportional, variant exp (-(gammat){alpha}) , with 0.5
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