Sleep spindle incidence dynamics: a pilot study based on a Markovian analysis.
Results are reported, based on 5 healthy subjects, concerning patterns in the dynamics of the sequential arrangement of spindles in human stage 2 sleep. Specifically, the conditional probability of incidence of successive spindle lengths and successive inter-spindle intervals is investigated. The results show that successive spindle lengths may be statistically independent. However, their distribution (histogram) may be similar for two different stage 2 periods, one in the first third and another in the second third of the night sleep record. In contrast to the finding about spindle lengths, results show that successive inter-spindle intervals may not be statistically independent. Furthermore, the overall dynamics of the sequential arrangement of inter-spindle intervals may be similar for the two sleep periods. These findings are discussed in the context of the "sleep maintenance" role of spindles.
Ktonas
P Y
PY
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Bioengineering Research Center, University of Houston, TX 77204-4793, USA. PKtonas@UH.EDU
Paparrigopoulos
T
T
Monoyiou
E A
EA
Bergiannaki
J D
JD
Soldatos
C R
CR
D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008390:Markov Chains; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*