Originally published October 5 2005
Brain research reveals disconnections between areas of the brain during deep sleep
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A team of researchers led by UW-Madison professor of psychiatry Giulio Tononi conducted experiments that revealed a fundamental disconnection between the various parts of the brain during deep sleep.
Writing Friday, Sept. 30, in the journal Science, a team of researchers led by UW-Madison professor of psychiatry Giulio Tononi reports that the fading of consciousness during dreamless sleep seems to occur as the different regions of the cerebral cortex that mediate perception, thought and action become functionally disconnected.
Tononi and his team observed the disconnect when brief, magnetically generated pulses of electricity were directed to specific regions of the brain.
The pulses stimulated an electrochemical response from the targeted cells, which, when the subject was awake, rippled across the brain, traveling along networks of nerve fibers to different cerebral destinations.
But when the subject was in deep sleep, the same response was quickly extinguished and did not travel beyond the stimulated cells.
Consciousness is a scientifically murky realm as little research has been conducted on how the brain sustains and alters the various states of mind.
Tononi, one of the few scientists exploring the frontiers of consciousness, has theorized that conscious thought depends on the brain's ability to integrate information.
Later in the night, and especially in the morning hours, subjects report vivid dreams, indicating that the later stages of sleep can be associated with conscious experience, Tononi says.
"You cannot say that consciousness fades because the brain shuts off.
To explore the breakdown of consciousness during sleep, Tononi and his colleagues capitalized on a new technology - transcranial magnetic stimulation - that permits precise, non-invasive activation of small regions of the brain.
Subjects are also equipped with a cap of electrodes to monitor the brain's electrical activity so that the cell signals elicited by the quick bursts of electricity can be tracked.
The magnetic field, in turn, produces pulses of electricity lasting less than a millisecond and that are capable of penetrating the skull to stimulate brain cells.
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