Norton James J S, Umunna Stephen, Bretl Timothy
Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Psychophysiology. 2017 Apr;54(4):496-507. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12807. Epub 2017 Jan 18.
This study confirmed the hypothesis that it is possible to elicit SSVEPs through closed eyelids during NREM sleep. To test this hypothesis, SSVEP amplitudes were measured in eight subjects across two conditions of stimulation (stimulation on and stimulation off) and three brain states (waking, light sleep, and deep sleep). Results showed a significant interaction between stimulation and brain state. In particular, EEG activity at the frequency of stimulation was higher during both light sleep and deep sleep in the stimulation on condition than in the stimulation off condition. The fact that it is possible to elicit SSVEPs during sleep may provide a new way to study how SSVEPs are generated in the brain-one that might help resolve open questions such as identifying the SSVEP activation sequence or deciding if SSVEPs derive from evoked or oscillatory neural processes.
本研究证实了这样一个假设，即在非快速眼动睡眠期间通过闭合眼睑诱发稳态视觉诱发电位（SSVEPs）是可行的。为了验证这一假设，对8名受试者在两种刺激条件（刺激开启和刺激关闭）以及三种脑状态（清醒、浅睡眠和深睡眠）下测量了SSVEP振幅。结果显示刺激与脑状态之间存在显著交互作用。具体而言，在刺激开启条件下，浅睡眠和深睡眠期间刺激频率处的脑电图（EEG）活动均高于刺激关闭条件下。睡眠期间能够诱发SSVEPs这一事实可能为研究SSVEPs在大脑中如何产生提供一种新方法——这可能有助于解决一些悬而未决的问题，比如确定SSVEP激活序列或判断SSVEPs是源自诱发神经过程还是振荡神经过程。
