fMRI correlates of behavioural microsleeps during a continuous visuomotor task.
Behavioural microsleeps (BMs) are brief episodes of absent responsiveness accompanied by slow-eye-closure. They frequently occur as a consequence of sleep-deprivation, an extended monotonous task, and are modulated by the circadian rhythm and sleep homeostatic pressure. In this paper, a multimodal method to investigate the neural correlates of BMs using simultaneous recording of fMRI, eye-video, VEOG, and continuous visuomotor response is presented. The data were collected from 20 healthy volunteers while they performed a continuous visuomotor tracking task inside an MRI scanner for 50 min. The BMs were identified post-hoc by expert visual rating of eye-video and visuomotor response using a set of pre-defined criteria. fMRI analysis of BMs revealed changes in haemodynamic activity in several cortical and sub-cortical regions associated with visuomotor control and arousal.
Poudel
Govinda R
GR
Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. govinda.poudel@otago.ac.nz
Jones
Richard D
RD
Innes
Carrie R H
CR
Watts
Richard
R
Signal
T Leigh
TL
Bones
Philip J
PJ
D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D004585:Electrooculography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012890:Sleep; D013997:Time Factors; D014785:Vision, Ocular