title: Sleep spindle incidence dynamics: a pilot study based on a Markovian analysis.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Bioengineering Research Center, University of Houston, TX 77204-4793, USA. PKtonas@UH.EDU
authors.forename: P Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Ktonas
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paparrigopoulos
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Monoyiou
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bergiannaki
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Soldatos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008390:Markov Chains; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*