Thalamic deactivation at sleep onset precedes that of the cerebral cortex in humans.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America February 23, 2010 Michel Magnin, Marc Rey, Hélène Bastuji et al.
Thalamic and cortical activities are assumed to be time-locked throughout all vigilance states. Using simultaneous intracortical and intrathalamic recordings, we demonstrate here that the thalamic deactivation occurring at sleep onset most often precedes that of the cortex by several minutes, whereas reactivation of both structures during awakening is synchronized. Delays between thalamus and...