Reframing “Paradoxical” Excitation: Disentangling EEG Complexity and Entropy Reveals Resting State Dynamics Associated with Propofol Susceptibility
medRxiv Preprint Server December 16, 2025 Derek Newman, Charlotte Maschke, George A. Mashour et al. preprint
Propofol anesthesia can cause either the expected suppression of brain activity or a transient paradoxical excitation. EEG measures of signal complexity and entropy, specifically Type I and Type II complexity on the Complexity–Entropy Causal Plane (CECP), distinguish these divergent neural trajectories. The findings suggest that paradoxical excitation is reflected in both types of complexity, that the CECP separates excitation from suppression, and that baseline EEG complexity is linked to how susceptible a person is to propofol.