Talk from Delphine Oudiette - Directrice de recherche Inserm, ICM
Abstract:
The traditional view treats wakefulness and sleep as mutually exclusive, but “hybrid states”, - where wake‑like and sleep‑like features coexist-, are often observed in pathology (e.g., sleepwalking, REM sleep behavior disorder, narcolepsy) and physiology (e.g. lucid dreaming, sleep onset period). These gray zones raise fundamental questions: where does wake end and sleep begin, and how should we define sleep itself?
In this talk, Delphine Oudiette will present her multidimensional investigation of these hybrid states and their impact on cognition. Her strategy integrates physiological measures (EEG, EMG, EOG) with behavioral metrics (spontaneous actions and stimulus‑evoked responses), phenomenological reports (mental content), and cognitive tasks (attention, memory, creativity).
Her findings challenge the binary sleep-wake dichotomy, with direct implications for basic neuroscience and the diagnosis and treatment of sleep‑related disorders.