PSY BEH 11A Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Slow-Wave Sleep, Sleep Spindle, Alpha Wave
4 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
The hormone melatonin, released by the pineal gland, mediates the sleep/wake cycle: the natural diurnal cycle lasts longer than 24 hours. During stage one, rem sleep occurs a state in which the brain is incredibly active but the body is paradoxically immobile. Sleep appears to be incredibly important: sleep deprivation has various negative effects on both physical and cognitive functioning. Furthermore, people seem to require adequate amounts of both slow-wave and rem sleep, as evidenced by the rem rebound effect. The number of hours that people need, as well as the timing of their peak alertness, changes with age as well as with environmental factors. Eeg data let one distinguish distinct stages of sleep: alertful wakefulness (beta waves, just before sleep (alpha waves, stage 1 (theta waves) Soft waves: stage 2 (sleep spindle > k complex) K-complex: large rise and dip in waves: stage 3 (delta waves)
