Tavakoli Paniz, Varma Sonia, Campbell Kenneth
School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Canada.
School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Canada.
Conscious Cogn. 2018 Feb;58:60-74. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.012. Epub 2017 Nov 2.
Sleep onset marks the transition from waking to sleep, during which conscious awareness of the external environmental is gradually lost. The present study examines the extent of processing of acoustic change during sleep onset. An auditory optimal paradigm was used to record event-related potentials to six deviant stimuli during wakefulness, stage N1, and stage N2 sleep. During waking and early-stage N1, two of the deviants, environmental sounds and white noise, elicited a P3a reflecting processes that may lead to conscious awareness of acoustic change. Surprisingly, the P3a was also observed following both deviants during late-stage N1, a period thought to represent decreased awareness of the environment. Only the environmental sounds continued to elicit a P3a during stage N2 sleep, associated with the loss of consciousness of the external environment. Certain auditory stimuli may thus continue to activate processes that may lead to conscious awareness during the sleep onset period.
睡眠开始标志着从清醒到睡眠的转变，在此期间对外界环境的意识逐渐丧失。本研究考察了睡眠开始期间听觉变化的处理程度。采用听觉优化范式记录清醒、N1期和N2期睡眠期间对六种偏差刺激的事件相关电位。在清醒和早期N1期，其中两种偏差刺激，即环境声音和白噪声，诱发了一个P3a，反映了可能导致对听觉变化产生意识的过程。令人惊讶的是，在晚期N1期，两种偏差刺激之后也观察到了P3a，这一时期被认为代表着对环境意识的降低。只有环境声音在N2期睡眠期间继续诱发P3a，这与对外界环境意识的丧失有关。因此，某些听觉刺激可能在睡眠开始阶段继续激活可能导致意识产生的过程。
