Rhythmic alternating patterns of brain activity distinguish rapid eye movement sleep from other states of consciousness.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America June 18, 2013 Ho Ming Chow, Silvina G. Horovitz, Walter S. Carr et al.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep constitutes a distinct "third state" of consciousness, during which levels of brain activity are commensurate with wakefulness, but conscious awareness is radically transformed. To characterize the temporal and spatial features of this paradoxical state, we examined functional interactions between brain regions using fMRI resting-state connectivity methods....