Consciousness and cortical responsiveness: a within-state study during non-rapid eye movement sleep
Scientific Reports August 5, 2016 Jaakko O. Nieminen, Olivia Gosseries, Marcello Massimini et al. 60 citations
During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, the brain's response to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) differs depending on whether the person is conscious (dreaming) or not. 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. The amplitude of the negative deflection—a hallmark of neuronal bistability—was inversely correlated with the length of the dream report. These findings suggest that variations in the level of consciousness within the same physiological state are associated with changes in underlying cortical bistability.