Functional alterations and microstructure during sleep using fMRI

Sleep is characterized by changes in the activity of thalamocortical networks, which not only modulate arousal levels but also alter the processing of external stimuli. Multimodal imaging using simultaneous combination of EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has in the recent years allowed to study regional brain activities and their interactions in humans. As the definition of sleep states and many characteristics of sleep are based on electrophysiological criteria, a combined approach with concurrent EEG recordings is a prerequisite to study sleep using fMRI. Recent studies utilizing this multi…