The Phenomenal Contents and Neural Correlates of Spontaneous Thoughts across Wakefulness, NREM Sleep, and REM Sleep
Lampros Perogamvros, Benjamin Baird, Mitja Seibold, Brady A. Riedner, Melanie Boly, Giulio Tononi
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience May 31, 2017 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01155 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractSpontaneous thoughts occur during wakefulness, NREM sleep, and REM sleep, and all share activation in the midcingulate cortex. Waking thoughts additionally involve a medial prefrontal region linked to metacognition and have more metacognitive content than sleep thoughts. REM sleep thoughts are more social in content. The findings suggest a core neural substrate for thoughts across behavioral states, with medial prefrontal regions contributing to metacognitive qualities during wake.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational study with experience sampling and high-density EEG Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Human participants |
| Keywords | Wakefulness Neuroscience of sleep Prefrontal cortex Sleep system call Neural substrate |
| Citations | 76 |
| Key finding | Spontaneous thoughts across wakefulness, NREM sleep, and REM sleep share activation in the midcingulate cortex, while waking thoughts uniquely involve medial prefrontal regions associated with metacognition. |
Abstract
Thoughts occur during wake as well as during dreaming sleep. Using experience sampling combined with high-density EEG, we investigated the phenomenal qualities and neural correlates of spontaneously occurring thoughts across wakefulness, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and REM sleep. Across all states, thoughts were associated with activation of a region of the midcingulate cortex. Thoughts during wakefulness additionally involved a medial prefrontal region, which was associated with metacognitive thoughts during wake. Phenomenologically, waking thoughts had more metacognitive content than thoughts during both NREM and REM sleep, whereas thoughts during REM sleep had a more social content. Together, these results point to a core neural substrate for thoughts, regardless of behavioral state, within the midcingulate cortex, and suggest that medial prefrontal regions may contribute to metacognitive content in waking thoughts.