Highly relevant stimuli may passively elicit processes associated with consciousness during the sleep onset period

Tavakoli, Paniz; Varma, Sonia; Campbell, Kenneth B.

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.012

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…A small DRN was, in fact, observed following the presentation of the decrement, but it did not attain significance. The latency and scalp distribution of the waking DRNs essentially replicated the DRN findings observed by Tavakoli and Campbell (2016) and Tavakoli et al (2018). In the present study, subjects were tested late in the evening compared to during the day in the Tavakoli and Campbell study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Ruby et al (2008) employed a duration deviant and reported the presence of both a P3a-like positivity and a later P3b-like positivity occurring at about 200 and 300 ms, respectively, in both stage N2 and REM. Tavakoli et al (2018) recorded the P3a during stage N1 and the first 30 min of stage N2 sleep. They observed a significant P3a-like positivity at about 240 ms during early stage N2 sleep following their environmental sound deviants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, a more recent multi-feature paradigm (Näätänen et al, 2004), as its name implies, allows for the presentation of several deviants each representing a change of a different feature of the standard. The present study employs a multi-feature paradigm used by Tavakoli and Campbell (2016) and Tavakoli et al (2018) to examine those deviants most likely to elicit a P3a during sleep. In the multi-feature paradigm, six different deviant stimuli were presented in a single auditory sequence, consisting of an alternating standard-deviant pattern.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence of P3a During Sleep, a Process Associated With Intrusions Into Consciousness in the Waking State

et al. 2019

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The present study examines processes associated with intrusions into consciousness during an unconscious state, natural sleep. The definition of sleep is still much debated. Almost all researchers agree that sleep onset represents a gradual loss of consciousness of the external environment. For sleep to be beneficial, it needs to remain as undisturbed as possible. Nevertheless, unlike other unconsciousness states, sleep is reversible. For purposes of survival, it is critical that the sleeper be able to “detect” and perhaps become conscious of highly relevant biological or personal information. Therefore, even in sleep, the brain must decide whether a new incoming stimulus is relevant and if so, may require an arousal to wakefulness, or whether it is irrelevant and can be gated to prevent disruption of sleep. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to measure the extent processing of auditory stimuli some of which elicited an ERP component, the P3a, in the waking state. The P3a is associated with processes resulting in the interruption of frontal central executive, leading to conscious awareness. Very little research has focused on the occurrence of the P3a during sleep. A multi-feature paradigm was used to examine the processing of a frequently occurring “standard” stimulus and six rarely occurring different “deviant” stimuli during wakefulness, NREM, and REM sleep. A P3a was elicited by novel environmental sounds and white noise bursts in the waking state, replicating previous studies. Other deviant stimuli (changes in pitch, intensity, duration) failed to do so. The ERPs indicated that processing of the stimuli that did not elicit a P3a in wakefulness were much inhibited during both NREM and REM sleep. Surprisingly, those deviants that did elicit a P3a in wakefulness continued to do so in stage N2 and REM sleep. The subject did not, however, awaken. These results suggest processes leading to consciousness in wakefulness may still remain active during sleep possibly allowing subjects to act on potentially highly relevant input. This may also explain how sleep can be reversed if the stimulus input is sufficiently critical.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence of P3a During Sleep, a Process Associated With Intrusions Into Consciousness in the Waking State

et al. 2019

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“…In healthy young adults, a number of studies have indicated that when a pure tone is used as a standard stimulus, white noise and environmental sounds acting as deviants will be especially likely to elicit a P3a ( 48 , 73 , 98 – 100 ). So powerful are the effects of these particular deviants that they continue to elicit a P3a during the sleep onset period where conscious awareness of the external environment is gradually diminished ( 101 ). The environmental sounds even elicit a P3a during definitive stage N2 sleep ( 101 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So powerful are the effects of these particular deviants that they continue to elicit a P3a during the sleep onset period where conscious awareness of the external environment is gradually diminished ( 101 ). The environmental sounds even elicit a P3a during definitive stage N2 sleep ( 101 ). On the other hand, the frequency, duration, decrement, and increment deviants do not elicit a P3a in young adults during the waking state suggesting these are determined to be less relevant and thus less likely to interrupt current cognitive priorities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Event-Related Potential Measures of Attention Capture in Adolescent Inpatients With Acute Suicidal Behavior

et al. 2018

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Impaired executive functions, modulated by the frontal lobes, have been suggested to be associated with suicidal behavior. The present study examines one of these executive functions, attentional control, maintaining attention to the task-at-hand. A group of inpatient adolescents with acute suicidal behavior and healthy controls were studied using a passively presented auditory optimal paradigm. This “optimal” paradigm consisted of a series of frequently presented homogenous pure tone “standards” and different “deviants,” constructed by changing one or more features of the standard. The optimal paradigm has been shown to be a more time-efficient replacement to the traditional oddball paradigm, which makes it suitable for use in clinical populations. The extent of processing of these “to-be-ignored” auditory stimuli was measured by recording event-related potentials (ERPs). The P3a ERP component is thought to reflect processes associated with the capturing of attention. Rare and novel stimuli may result in an executive decision to switch attention away from the current cognitive task and toward a probe of the potentially more relevant “interrupting” auditory input. On the other hand, stimuli that are quite similar to the standard should not elicit P3a. The P3a has been shown to be larger in immature brains in early compared to later adolescence. An overall enhanced P3a was observed in the suicidal group. The P3a was larger in this group for both the environmental sound and white noise deviants, although only the environmental sound P3a attained significance. Other deviants representing only a small change from the standard did not elicit a P3a in healthy controls. They did elicit a small P3a in the suicidal group. These findings suggest a lowered threshold for the triggering of the involuntary switch of attention in these patients, which may play a role in their reported distractibility. The enhanced P3a is also suggestive of an immature frontal central executive and may provide a promising marker for early identification of some of the risk factors for some of the cognitive difficulties linked to suicidality.

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The impact of environmental exposures on sleep

Jackson

Gaston

2019

Sleep and Health

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Highly relevant stimuli may passively elicit processes associated with consciousness during the sleep onset period

Cited by 7 publications

References 88 publications

Evidence of P3a During Sleep, a Process Associated With Intrusions Into Consciousness in the Waking State

Evidence of P3a During Sleep, a Process Associated With Intrusions Into Consciousness in the Waking State

Event-Related Potential Measures of Attention Capture in Adolescent Inpatients With Acute Suicidal Behavior

The impact of environmental exposures on sleep

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