title: Time-varying effective connectivity of the cortical neuroelectric activity associated with behavioural microsleeps.
abstract: An episode of complete failure to respond during an attentive task accompanied by behavioural signs of sleep is called a behavioural microsleep. We proposed a combination of high-resolution EEG and an advanced method for time-varying effective connectivity estimation for reconstructing the temporal evolution of the causal relations between cortical regions when microsleeps occur during a continuous visuomotor task. We found connectivity patterns involving left-right frontal, left-right parietal, and left-frontal/right-parietal connections commencing in the interval [-500; -250] ms prior to the onset of microsleeps and disappearing at the end of the microsleeps. Our results from global graph indices derived from effective connectivity analysis have revealed EEG-based biomarkers of all stages of microsleeps (preceding, onset, pre-recovery, recovery). In particular, this raises the possibility of being able to predict microsleeps in real-world tasks and initiate a 'wake-up' intervention to avert the microsleeps and, hence, prevent injurious and even multi-fatality accidents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer, Control, and Management Engineering, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, Italy; Neuroelectrical Imaging and BCI Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: jlenia.toppi@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Jlenia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Toppi
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer, Control, and Management Engineering, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, Italy; Neuroelectrical Imaging and BCI Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Astolfi
authors.affiliation: Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Govinda R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Poudel
authors.affiliation: New Zealand Brain Research Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand; Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Carrie R H
authors.initials: CRH
authors.lastname: Innes
authors.affiliation: Neuroelectrical Imaging and BCI Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Babiloni
authors.affiliation: New Zealand Brain Research Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand; Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand; Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D058256:Brain Waves; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D012894:Sleep Stages; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Behavioural microsleeps; EEG; Effective connectivity; Graph theory; Time-varying connectivity