ArticleNpj biological timing and sleep2025
Sleep-stage dependent patterning of slowly propagating brain activity.
Article in Npj biological timing and sleep, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psilocybin shapes the slow, global propagation of brain activity over the cortical layout of 5HT2a receptors.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Sleep deprivation exhibits an age-dependent effect on infraslow global brain activity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Sensory encoding and memory retrieval are coordinated with propagating waves in the human brain.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Cortical hierarchy underlying homeostatic sleep pressure alleviation.Nature communications · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Endogenous brain activity plays a key role during sleep, facilitating important functions like learning and memory consolidation. Its precise mechanisms are not yet understood. Recent functional MRI (fMRI) research has revealed structured multi-second waves that travel across the cortex along a hierarchical functional gradient during wakefulness. However, how these waves are modulated across different sleep stages remains unclear. Here, we present compelling evidence of significant changes in both the frequency and spatiotemporal patterns of these waves across sleep stages. Notably, during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, we observed a predominance of propagations from sensory/motor areas to higher-order networks. These patterns were distinct from other sleep stages, with key regions like the thalamus, pons, and visual cortex-linked to PGO waves-activating at the earliest phase of waves. Similar to PGO waves, these fMRI waves were coupled with REM activity, suggesting their potential role in supporting memory consolidation and learning processes.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.