Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2022; 15(S 02): 306-313
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20210010
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Changes during the sleep onset process on EEG activity and the components of attention

Jorge Borrani
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Alán Chapa-Guerra
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Vania De-la-Garza
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Iván López
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Alba Isaias
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Luisa Pimentel-Rodríguez
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Aída García
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Candelaria Ramírez
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
,
Pablo Valdez
1   Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Psychology, Laboratory of Psychophysiology - Monterrey - Nuevo León - Mexico.
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
Also available at
   Permissions and Reprints

ABSTRACT

The sleep onset process (SOP) happens every time a person falls asleep, regardless of the time of day or if they are doing an activity. Basic cognitive processes, such as attention, differ between wakefulness and sleep. The components of attention - tonic alertness, phasic alertness, selective, and sustained attention - are known to decrease during sleep, however they have not been analyzed during the sleep onset process. This study analyses the state of three of the four components of attention during the sleep onset process through electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and task performance in young people. Nine undergraduate students (18.54±1.24 years old) underwent a control session which was compared to the average of four sleep-inducing sessions. During all sessions, the EEG activity of the subjects was recorded to assess the effect of the SOP on electroencephalographic activity while they answered a continuous performance task (CPT) to assess the effect of the SOP on the components of attention. Comparisons of the EEG recordings of the control and the sleep inducing sessions demonstrated that there is lower activity in fast beta, as well as a higher theta and delta activity right before the sleep onset. There was a decrease in tonic alertness, phasic alertness, and selective attention. This study shows that there is an increase in EEG slow activity and a decrease in fast activity, as well as in attentional capacity during the SOP. This decrease can become a safety hazard since it could happen while performing daily activities.

Keywords:

Attention - Sleep - Electroencephalography - Spectral Analysis - Sleep Onset - Continuous Performance Task

Funding source

The authors hereby state that there is no financial interest or benefit arising from the direct application of this research.




Publication History

Received: 20 December 2020

Accepted: 19 March 2021

Article published online:
01 December 2023

© 2023. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda.
Rua do Matoso 170, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 20270-135, Brazil

 

  • REFERENCES

  • 1 Kleitman N. Sleep and wakefulness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1987.
  • 2 Broughton R. Important underemphasized aspects of sleep onset. In: Ogilvie RD, Harsh JR, eds. Sleep onset: normal and abnormal processes. Washington: American Psychological Association (APA); 1994. p. 19-35.
  • 3 Reyner LA, Horne JA. Falling asleep whilst driving: are drivers aware of prior sleepiness?. Int J Legal Med. 1998 Apr;111(3):120-3.
  • 4 Killgore WDS. Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition. Prog Brain Res [Internet]. 2010; [cited ANO Mês dia]; 185:105-29. Available from: http:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444537027000075
  • 5 Hershner SD, Chervin RD. Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Nat Sci Sleep. 2014 Jun;6:73-84.
  • 6 Ogilvie RD. The process of falling asleep. Sleep Med Rev. 2001 Jun;5(3):247-70.
  • 7 Basile LFH, Anghinah R, Ribeiro P, Ramos RT, Piedade R, Ballester G, et al. Interindividual variability in EEG correlates of attention and limits of functional mapping. Int J Psychophysiol. 2007 Sep;65(3):238-51.
  • 8 Mesulam MM. A cortical network for directed attention and unilateral neglect. Ann Neurol. 1981 Oct;10(4):309-25.
  • 9 Ray WJ, Cole HW. EEG alpha activity reflects attentional demands, and beta activity reflects emotional and cognitive processes. Science. 1985 May;228(4700):750-2.
  • 10 Dang-Vu TT, Schabus M, Desseilles M, Sterpenich V, Bonjean M, Maquet P. Functional neuroimaging insights into the physiology of human sleep. Sleep. 2010 Dec;33(12):1589-603.
  • 11 Rechtschaffen A, Kales A. A manual of standardized terminology, technique and scoring system for sleep stages of human subjects. Washington: United States Government Printing Office; 1968.
  • 12 Gorgoni M, Ferlazzo F, Ferrara M, Moroni F, D’Atri A, Fanelli S, et al. Topographic electroencephalogram changes associated with psychomotor vigilance task performance after sleep deprivation. Sleep Med. 2014 Sep;15(9):1132-9.
  • 13 Ogilvie RD, Vieira KP, Small RJ. EEG activity during lucid dreaming. Lucidity Lett. 1991;10(1-2):1-3.
  • 14 De Gennaro L, Ferrara M. Sleep spindles: an overview. Sleep Med Rev. 2003 Oct;7(5):423-40.
  • 15 Borghini G, Astolfi L, Vecchiato G, Mattia D, Babiloni F. Measuring neurophysiological signals in aircraft pilots and car drivers for the assessment of mental workload, fatigue and drowsiness. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014 Jul;44:58-75.
  • 16 Cajochen C, Khalsa SBS, Wyatt JK, Czeisler CA, Dijk DJ. EEG and ocular correlates of circadian melatonin phase and human performance decrements during sleep loss. Am J Physiol. 1999 Sep;277(3 Pt 2):R640-9.
  • 17 Posner MI, Rafal RD. Cognitive theories of attention and the rehabilitation of attentional deficits. In: Meier MJ, Benton AL, Diller L, eds. Neuropsychological rehabilitation. New York: The Guilford Press; 1987. p. 182-201.
  • 18 Valdez P, Ramírez C, García A, Talamantes J, Armijo P, Borrani J. Circadian rhythms in components of attention. Biol Rhythm Res. 2005 Feb;36(1-2):57-65.
  • 19 Cohen RA. The neuropsychology of attention. New York: Springer Science & Business Media; 2013.
  • 20 Casagrande M, De Gennaro L, Violani C, Braibanti P, Bertini M. A finger-tapping task and a reaction time task as behavioral measures of the transition from wakefulness to sleep: which task interferes less with the sleep onset process?. Sleep. 1997 Apr;20(4):301-12.
  • 21 Hori T, Hayashi M, Morikawa T. Topographical EEG changes and the hypnagogic experience. In: Ogilvie RD, Harsh JR, eds. Sleep onset: normal and abnormal processes. Washington: American Psychological Association (APA); 1994. p. 237-53.
  • 22 Riccio CA, Reynolds CR, Lowe P, Moore JJ. The continuous performance test: a window on the neural substrates for attention?. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2002 Apr;17(3):235-72.
  • 23 Valdez P, Ramírez C, García A, Talamantes J, Cortez J. Circadian and homeostatic variation in sustained attention. Chronobiol Int. 2010 Jan;27(2):393-416.
  • 24 Rechtschaffen A. Sleep onset: conceptual issues. In: Ogilvie RD, Harsh JR, eds. Sleep onset: normal and abnormal processes. Washington: American Psychological Association (APA); 1994. p. 3-17.
  • 25 Priest B, Brichard C, Aubert G, Liistro G, Rodenstein DO. Microsleep during a simplified maintenance of wakefulness test. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001 Jun;163(7):1619-25.
  • 26 Carskadon MA, Dement WC, Mitler MM, Roth T, Westbrook PR, Keenan S. Guidelines for the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT): a standard measure of sleepiness. Sleep. 1986 Dec;9(4):519-24.
  • 27 Nishida M, Walker MP. Daytime naps, motor memory consolidation and regionally specific sleep spindles. PLoS One. 2007 Apr;2(4):e341.
  • 28 Mitchell DJ, McNaughton N, Flanagan D, Kirk IJ. Frontal-midline theta from the perspective of hippocampal “theta”. Prog Neurobiol. 2008 Nov;86(3):156-85.
  • 29 Smit AS, Eling PATM, Coenen AML. Mental effort causes vigilance decrease due to resource depletion. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2004 Jan;115(1):35-42.
  • 30 Barkley RA. Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychol Bull. 1997 Jan;121(1):65-94.
  • 31 Engel AK, Fries P, Singer W. Dynamic predictions: oscillations and synchrony in top-down processing. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2001 Oct;2(10):704-16.
  • 32 Başar-Eroglu C, Strüber D, Schürmann M, Stadler M, Başar E. Gamma-band responses in the brain: a short review of psychophysiological correlates and functional significance. Int J Psychophysiol. 1996 Nov;24(1-2):101-12.
  • 33 De Gennaro L, Marzano C, Veniero D, Moroni F, Fratello F, Curcio G, et al. Neurophysiological correlates of sleepiness: a combined TMS and EEG study. NeuroImage. 2007 Jul;36(4):1277-87.
  • 34 Finelli LA, Achermann P, Borbély AA. Individual ‘fingerprints’ in human sleep EEG topography. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2001 Nov;25(5 Suppl 1):S57-62.
  • 35 Hung CS, Sarasso S, Ferrarelli F, Riedner B, Ghilardi MF, Cirelli C, et al. Local experience-dependent changes in the wake EEG after prolonged wakefulness. Sleep. 2013 Jan;36(1):59-72.
  • 36 Makeig S, Jung TP. Changes in alertness are a principal component of variance in the EEG spectrum. Neuroreport. 1995 Dec;7(1):213-6.
  • 37 Achermann P, Rusterholz T, Stucky B, Olbrich E. Oscillatory patterns in the electroencephalogram at sleep onset. Sleep. 2019 Aug;42(8):zsz096. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsz096
  • 38 Prerau MJ, Hartnack KE, Obregon-Henao G, Sampson A, Merlino M, Gannon K, et al. Tracking the sleep onset process: an empirical model of behavioral and physiological dynamics. PLoS Comput Biol. 2014 Oct;10(10):e1003866.
  • 39 Campbell KB, Colrain IM. Event-related potential measures of the inhibition of information processing: II. The sleep onset period. Int J Psychophysiol. 2002 Dec;46(3):197-214.
  • 40 Vertes RP. Serotonergic regulation of rhythmical activity of the brain, concentrating on the hippocampus. In: Müller CP, Jacobs BL, eds. Handbook of behavioral neuroscience [Internet]. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2010; [access in ANO Mês dia]; p. 277-92. Available from: https://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569733910700849
  • 41 Borrani J, Guerra G, García A, Ramirez C, Valdez P. The effect of pubertal development on the sleep-wake cycle. Sleep Sci. 2020 Jul;13:17-22.