Changes in the fractal dimension of alpha envelope from wakefulness to drowsiness in the human electroencephalogram.

Changes in the fractal dimension of the waxing and waning of alpha activity from wakefulness to drowsiness were investigated in 10 normal subjects. The envelope of filtered alpha activity was estimated with the Hilbert transform. A subset time series was constructed from the alpha envelope data taken at an interval (k). The points of the logarithm of interval k vs. the logarithm of the curve length of the subset time series (log L(k)) were fitted by a two-segment curve, consisting of small and long line segments (segments 1 and 2). The fractal dimension was estimated from the slope of straight line for each segment by using Higuchi's method. The mean fractal dimension was 1.16 for segment 1 and 1.95 for segment 2 during wakefulness and 1.15 for segment 1 and 1.89 for segment 2 during drowsiness. The fractal dimension significantly decreased in both segments during drowsiness, thus, indicating decreases in the complexity of alpha envelope.