a method for dynamic cerebral autoregulation assessment includes acquiring a blood pressure signal having a first oscillatory pattern from a first individual , acquiring a blood flow velocity signal having a second oscillatory pattern from the first individual , decomposing the bp signal into a first group of intrinsic mode functions , decomposing the bfv signal into a second group of imfs , determining dominant oscillatory frequencies in the first group of imfs , automatically selecting a first characteristic imf from the first group of imfs that has its associated dominant oscillatory frequency in a predetermined frequency range , automatically selecting a second characteristic imf from the second group of imfs , calculating a time sequence of instantaneous phase difference between the first characteristic imf and the second characteristic imf , computing an average of the instantaneous phase difference in the time sequence , and identifying a pathological condition in the first individual .