Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32720644›Full record

ArticleeLife2020

An electrophysiological marker of arousal level in humans.

Janna D Lendner, Randolph F Helfrich, Bryce A Mander, Luis Romundstad, Jack J Lin, Matthew P Walker, Pal G Larsson, Robert T Knight

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 204 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
204citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
22.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

204 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 417 citations in OpenAlex.

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  18. Cognitive Processing and EEG Complexity.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Review
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144 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Janna D LendnerHelen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-1967-6110
Randolph F HelfrichHertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tuebingen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-8045-3111
Bryce A ManderDepartment of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States.
Luis RomundstadDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Oslo Medical Center, Oslo, Norway.
Jack J LinDepartment of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States.
Matthew P WalkerHelen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
Pal G LarssonDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Oslo Medical Center, Oslo, Norway.
Robert T KnightHelen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
University of California, Berkeley · USUniversity of California, Irvine · USUniversity of Oslo · NOHertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research · DEUniversity of Tübingen · DE

Funding

Neural circuit theory and trained recurrent network modeling of rapid learningU19NS107609 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI BUFFALO, ELIZABETH A · 2018 to 2022
$12.6M
Attention, Orientation and the Human Prefrontal CortexR01NS021135 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS · PI Robert Thomas Knight · 1985 to 2026
$6.5M
ATTENTION, ORIENTATION, & THE HUMAN PREFRONTAL CORTEXR37NS021135 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI KNIGHT, ROBERT THOMAS · 2013 to 2019
$3.6M
Relationships between local and global mechanisms of sleep apnea, Alzheimer's disease biomarkers, and memory impairment in cognitively asymptomatic older adultsK01AG068353 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI MANDER, BRYCE A. · 2020 to 2024
$636k
Aging, sleep, and beta-amyloid pathology and their impact on memoryF32AG039170 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI MANDER, BRYCE A. · 2010 to 2013
$160k
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft HE 8329/2-1Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft LE 3863/2-1NIA NIH HHS F32 AG039170NIA NIH HHS K01 AG068353NIMH NIH HHS R01AG03116408NIMH NIH HHS RF1AG05401901NIMH NIH HHS RF1AG05410601NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS021135NINDS NIH HHS R37 NS021135NINDS NIH HHS U19 NS107609
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Deep non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) and general anesthesia with propofol are prominent states of reduced arousal linked to the occurrence of synchronized oscillations in the electroencephalogram (EEG). Although rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is also associated with diminished arousal levels, it is characterized by a desynchronized, 'wake-like' EEG. This observation implies that reduced arousal states are not necessarily only defined by synchronous oscillatory activity. Using intracranial and surface EEG recordings in four independent data sets, we demonstrate that the 1/f spectral slope of the electrophysiological power spectrum, which reflects the non-oscillatory, scale-free component of neural activity, delineates wakefulness from propofol anesthesia, NREM and REM sleep. Critically, the spectral slope discriminates wakefulness from REM sleep solely based on the neurophysiological brain state. Taken together, our findings describe a common electrophysiological marker that tracks states of reduced arousal, including different sleep stages as well as anesthesia in humans.

Indexed as

AnesthesiaPropofolAdultAgedAged, 80 and overArousalElectroencephalographyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSleep, REMSleep StagesPropofol1/f dynamicsanesthesiaarousalhumanintracranial electrophysiologyneurosciencesleep

Identifiers

PMID32720644
PMCPMC7394547
OpenAlexW3045808667

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.