Brain-Mind States: Reciprocal Variation in Thoughts and Hallucinations

Abstract

The exclusion of thinking from recent studies of sleep mentation has hindered a full appreciation of how cognitive activity differs across the states of waking and sleep. To overcome this limitation, this study investigated thoughts and hallucinations using experience sampling, home-based sleep-wake monitoring, and formal analyses of the psychological data. The prevalence of thoughts decreased gradually from waking through sleep onset and non-REM sleep, to reach its nadir in REM sleep, whereas hallucinations increased sharply across these states. Furthermore, multiple occurrences of hallucinations but not of thoughts increased significantly from sleep onset through non-REM sleep, to a peak in REM sleep. This reciprocity in thoughts and hallucinations might reflect a progressive shift from high to low aminergic-to-cholinergic neuromodulatory ratios across wake-sleep states, accompanied by an array of changes in the regional activation patterns of the brain.

William James's The Fringe of Consciousness REM Mentation in Narcoleptics and Normals

“…In line with the narcolepsy vs normal findings, the reciprocal variation seen for thoughts and hallucinations in normal subjects is consistent with the AIM model but not with the activation-only view (Fosse, Stickgold, & Hobson, 2001). In a further analysis of the same data set, we have found that thoughts and hallucinations vary differently within each sleep stage as well when measured across successive NREM-REM cycles of the night (Fosse, Stickgold, & Hobson, in preparation).…”

REM Mentation in Narcoleptics and Normals: An Empirical Test of Two Neurocognitive Theories

“…However, it has recently been found (Fosse, Stickgold, & Hobson, in press) that variations in thoughtlike and hallucinatory sleep mentation within normal subjects is consistent with the AIM model but not with the activation-only view. Fosse, Stickgold, and Hobson (2001) found that thinking and hallucinations vary in a reciprocal fashion across quiet waking, sleep onset, NREM, and REM. Whereas hallucinations increased progressively from quiet waking through sleep onset and NREM, to peak in REM, thinking followed the opposite trajectory and was at its nadir in REM.…”

Co-activated yet disconnected—Neural correlates of eye closures when trying to stay awake

“…Dream-like mentation outside REM sleep has been clearly documented (Oudiette et al, 2012) and its contents shortly after sleep onset have been decoded using fMRI (Horikawa et al, 2013). The incidence of imagery and autobiographical (vs. experiment related) content of such mentation increases with longer periods of sleep (Fosse et al, 2001;Rowley et al, 1998). For example, visual content increases to about 20% after 15 s of sleep (Rowley et al, 1998).…”