Conceptual and methodological considerations towards the development of computer-controlled research on the electro-physiology of sleep.

A critical discussion of the visual scoring approach to the measurement of sleep electrophysiology details some theoretical shortcomings of that procedural model. An alternative approach employing high-speed, general purpose digital computers is then presented. It is argued that the measurement potential of computers is barely tapped by using computers to score sleep stages and the advantages of collecting data which are suitable for parametric and multivariate statistical analysis are described. Researchers are urged to include detailed reports on their procedural choices along with a discussion of the methodological implications of these procedures. Examples of computer collected data are presented along with a description of some simple data reduction strategies.