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Science 30 September 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5744, pp. 2228 - 2232
DOI: 10.1126/science.1117256
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Reports

Breakdown of Cortical Effective Connectivity During Sleep

Marcello Massimini,1,2 Fabio Ferrarelli,1 Reto Huber,1 Steve K. Esser,1 Harpreet Singh,1 Giulio Tononi1*

When we fall asleep, consciousness fades yet the brain remains active. Why is this so? To investigate whether changes in cortical information transmission play a role, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation together with high-density electroencephalography and asked how the activation of one cortical area (the premotor area) is transmitted to the rest of the brain. During quiet wakefulness, an initial response (~15 milliseconds) at the stimulation site was followed by a sequence of waves that moved to connected cortical areas several centimeters away. During non–rapid eye movement sleep, the initial response was stronger but was rapidly extinguished and did not propagate beyond the stimulation site. Thus, the fading of consciousness during certain stages of sleep may be related to a breakdown in cortical effective connectivity.

1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, USA.
2 Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, via G. B. Grassi 74, Milan 20157, Italy.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gtononi{at}wisc.edu

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E-Letters:

Read all E-Letters

Cortical Effective Connectivity During Sleep: A Matter of Stimulus Intensity?
Ramin Khatami, et al.
Science Online, 19 Apr 2006 [Full text]
Re: Cortical Effective Connectivity During Sleep: Not a Matter of Stimulus Intensity
Giulio Tononi, et al.
Science Online, 23 Mar 2007 [Full text]

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