B. Kemp et al., Analysis of a sleep-dependent neuronal feedback loop: The slow-wave microcontinuity of the EEG, IEEE BIOMED, 47(9), 2000, pp. 1185-1194
Increasing depth of sleep corresponds to an increasing gain in the neuronal
feedback loops that generate the low-frequency (slow-wave) electroencephal
ogram (EEG), We derived the maximum-likelihood estimator of the feedback ga
in and applied it to quantify sleep depth, The estimator computes the fract
ion (0%-100%) of the current slow wave which continues in the near-future (
0.02 s later) EEG, Therefore, this percentage was dubbed slow-wave microcon
tinuity (SW%). It is not affected by anatomical parameters such as skull th
ickness, which can considerably bias the commonly used slow-wave power (SWP
).
In our study, both of the estimators SW% and SWP were monitored throughout
two nights in 22 subjects, Each subject took temazepam (a benzodiazepine) o
n one of the two nights, Both estimators detected the effects of age, temaz
epam, and time of night on sleep. Females were found to have twice the SWP
of males, but no gender effect on SW% was found. This confirms earlier repo
rts that gender affects SWP but not sleep depth. Subjectively assessed diff
erences in sleep quality between the nights were correlated to differences
in SW%, not in SWP.
These results demonstrate that slow-wave microcontinuity, being based on a
physiological model of sleep, reflects sleep depth more closely than SWP do
es.