Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Neurosciences, Neurosciences & Neurology, RAPID EYE-MOVEMENTS, REM-SLEEP, FUNCTIONAL NEUROANATOMY, LACTIVITE ELECTRIQUE, BLOOD-FLOW, SLOW-WAVE, METABOLISM, PROJECTIONS, GENERATION, ACTIVATION, Action Potentials, Animals, Brain, Emotions, Humans, Limbic System, Models, Neurological, Nerve Net, Neural Pathways, Sleep, REM, 0606 Physiology, 1109 Neurosciences, Neurology & Neurosurgery, 3109 Zoology, 3209 Neurosciences, 5202 Biological psychology

Abstract:

Human brain function is regionally organised during paradoxical sleep (PS) in a very different way than during wakefulness or slow wave sleep. The important activity in the pons and in the limbic/paralimbic areas constitutes the key feature of the functional neuroanatomy of PS, together with a relative quiescence of prefrontal and parietal associative cortices. Two questions are still outstanding. What neurocognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms may explain this original organization of brain function during PS? How the pattern of regional brain function may relate to dream content? Although some clues are already available, the experimental answer to both questions is still pending.