Influence of vigilance on resting state brain activity

Aims: Despite task absence the brain remains functionally and metabolically active exhibiting coherent activity in characteristic sets of brain regions, called resting state networks (RSN). RSN manifest as correlation patterns in “spontaneous” BOLD signal fluctuations with 10–100 s period [1]. Their origins remain obscure. Typically, in a wake resting state experiment data stems from subjects resting with eyes closed in the MRI scanner for ~10 min [2]. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that in resting state experiments subjects do not maintain constant wakefulness but that (1) the temporal profiles of RSN are influenc…