[Reactivity of the sleeping human brain: motor and electro-encephalographic correlates of evoked reactions].

Human brain reactivity during sleep has been studied. Complex stimuli: auditory stimulus 1 s--interstimulus interval 4 s--verbal instruction to clench one's fist were presented to human subjects at equal 30-second intervals throughout all night's sleep. Conditioned motor and EEG responses were elicited during the second and the third experimental nights by repeating only auditory stimuli at 30- or 15-second intervals respectively. It has been suggested that a short-term memory store functions during sleep for at least 30 s after presenting stimuli.