Chapter 1 - Slow brain oscillations of sleep, resting state, and vigilance
Introduction
The brain is most often studied in paradigms that evaluate its response on stimuli. In the absence of stimuli, the brain by no means silences but rather shows prominent spontaneous fluctuations in activity. These fluctuations dramatically influence the neural network responses on input and thus information processing. The typical periodicity is due to the rhythmic discharge of large numbers of neurons that synchronize with frequencies ranging from 1 to over a 100 Hz, the frequencies that are usually observed in neurophysiological recordings of field potentials. This chapter focuses on even slower oscillations ‐ or fluctuations; the slow oscillations (0.5–1 Hz) of sleep and the infraslow oscillations (ISOs; 0.01–0.1 Hz) that have been found in time series of behavioral performance, of neuronal firing rates, of electroencephalography (EEG), of magnetoencephalography (MEG), and of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal. These oscillations have been the topic of the 2010 Summer School of Brain Research in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, of which this dedicated volume of Progress in Brain Research accounts. This introductory chapter provides a bird's eye view on the relevance of slow oscillations and sets the stage for excellent papers discussing their molecular, cellular, network physiological and cognitive performance aspects.
Section snippets
Slow oscillations of sleep: When, where, who, and why?
As reviewed in this volume by Riedner et al. (2011), soon after Hans Berger showed the feasibility to record electrical activity from the human brain, its profound changes with sleep started to draw attention. The most striking electroencephalographic characteristic of deep non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep is the 0.5–1.0 Hz slow oscillation of very high amplitude (> 140 μV). It has been argued that the equally characteristic 1–4 Hz delta waves of sleep, with amplitudes between 75 and 140 μV, are,
Even slower: The when, where, who, and why of ISOs
During the past decade, neuroscience has developed a specific interest in even slower fluctuations of brain activity, occurring in the 0.01–0.1 Hz frequency range. These ISOs were known from animal studies long ago (Aladjalova, 1957) but have received massive interest only since their presence was shown in the fMRI BOLD signal in subjects at rest. The fluctuations are strongly coupled within functionally connected distributed anatomical networks called RSNs. RSNs have also been demonstrated
Conclusion
This chapter aimed to provide a bird's eye view of ongoing research on slow sleep oscillations (0.5–1 Hz) and ISOs (0.01–0.1 Hz), as an introduction to the excellent papers in this volume of Progress in Brain Research. The papers reflect presentations during 2010 Summer School of Brain Research in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the molecular, cellular, network physiological, and cognitive performance aspects of slow oscillations. Concertedly the papers in this volume provide ample inspiration to
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