Dissociated Pattern of Activity in Visual Cortices and Their Projections During Human Rapid Eye Movement Sleep
Abstract
Positron emission tomography was used to measure cerebral activity and to evaluate regional interrelationships within visual cortices and their projections during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in human subjects. REM sleep was associated with selective activation of extrastriate visual cortices, particularly within the ventral processing stream, and an unexpected attenuation of activity in the primary visual cortex; increases in regional cerebral blood flow in extrastriate areas were significantly correlated with decreases in the striate cortex. Extrastriate activity was also associated with concomitant activation of limbic and paralimbic regions, but with a marked reduction of activity in frontal association areas including lateral orbital and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. This pattern suggests a model for brain mechanisms subserving REM sleep where visual association cortices and their paralimbic projections may operate as a closed system dissociated from the regions at either end of the visual hierarchy that mediate interactions with the external world.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 02, 1998
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.279.5347.91
Entities
People
- Allen R. Braun
- Fuad Gwadry
- Gregory Belenky
- Mary Varga
- Nancy J. Wesensten
- Paul Baldwin
- Peter Herscovitch
- Richard E. Carson
- Thomas J Balkin
Organizations
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research