Sleep and Brain Activity

In the last few decades, scientists have discovered that far from being a time of neural silence, sleep is characterized by complex patterns of electrical, neurochemical, and metabolic activity in the brain. Sleep and the Brain presents some of the more dramatic developments in our understanding of brain activity in sleep. The book discusses what parts of the brain are active in sleep and how, and presents research on the function of sleep in memory, learning, and further brain development. Coverage encompasses the network and membrane mechanisms responsible for waking and sleeping brain activity, the roles of glial cells in the sleeping brain, the molecular basis of sleep EEG rhythms, and research on songbirds, rodents, and humans indicating the function of sleep.

• Collates material dispersed across a wide gamut of primary literature into one place
• Focuses on the most interesting and prolific research results on brain activity as it relates to sleep
• Practical real data discussion includes functional brain imaging and EEG research

Neuroscientists and psychologists studying sleep and/or brain activity

Preface

List of Contributors

Chapter 1. Neuronal Oscillations in the Thalamocortical System during Sleeping and Waking States

Neuronal Synchronization

Basic Thalamocortical States

Thalamocortical Rhythmic Activities

Origin of Slow Waves: Cortex versus Thalamus

Origin of Slow Waves: Horizontal and Vertical Propagation

Acknowledgements

REFERENCES

Chapter 2. Corticothalamic Rhythms during States of Reduced Vigilance

The Alpha Rhythm of Relaxed Wakefulness and the Theta Waves of Early NREM Sleep

The Slow (