1. A method of analyzing a multidimensional system comprising the steps of: acquiring a plurality of signals, each signal representing a corresponding channel that is associated with a different spatial location of the multi-dimensional system; generating a phase space representation for each channel as a function of the corresponding one of the plurality of signals; generating a signal profile for each phase space representation, each signal profile reflecting a rate of divergence of the corresponding phase space representation; for a selected predictor, chosen from amongst a number of possible predictors, deriving a signal profile for one or more critical channel groups, each signal profile reflecting a level of correlation between the channels of each critical channel group; and characterizing the state dynamics of the multidimensional system as a function of the signal profile associated with at least one critical channel group.