Consciousness and cortical responsiveness: a within-state study during non-rapid eye movement sleep.

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_5D6F13635D29
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Consciousness and cortical responsiveness: a within-state study during non-rapid eye movement sleep.
Journal
Scientific reports
Author(s)
Nieminen J.O., Gosseries O., Massimini M., Saad E., Sheldon A.D., Boly M., Siclari F., Postle B.R., Tononi G.
ISSN
2045-2322 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
2045-2322
Publication state
Published
Issued date
05/08/2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
6
Pages
30932
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article ; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Publication Status: epublish
Abstract
When subjects become unconscious, there is a characteristic change in the way the cerebral cortex responds to perturbations, as can be assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography (TMS-EEG). For instance, compared to wakefulness, during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep TMS elicits a larger positive-negative wave, fewer phase-locked oscillations, and an overall simpler response. However, many physiological variables also change when subjects go from wake to sleep, anesthesia, or coma. To avoid these confounding factors, we focused on NREM sleep only and measured TMS-evoked EEG responses before awakening the subjects and asking them if they had been conscious (dreaming) or not. As shown here, when subjects reported no conscious experience upon awakening, TMS evoked a larger negative deflection and a shorter phase-locked response compared to when they reported a dream. Moreover, the amplitude of the negative deflection-a hallmark of neuronal bistability according to intracranial studies-was inversely correlated with the length of the dream report (i.e., total word count). These findings suggest that variations in the level of consciousness within the same physiological state are associated with changes in the underlying bistability in cortical circuits.

Keywords
Cerebral Cortex/physiology, Consciousness, Dreams/physiology, Electroencephalography, Female, Humans, Male, Neuronal Plasticity, Sleep/physiology, Sleep, REM/physiology, Synaptic Transmission, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Wakefulness/physiology
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
12/08/2016 10:20
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:15
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