[An EEG study of different behavioral states of freely moving dolphins]

ECoG and EMG of neck and eye muscles of four free moving dolphins were recorded during sleep-wakefulness cycle through chronically implanted electrodes. Wakefulness is accompanied by desynchronized ECoG, and slow sleep by synchronized ECoG, including the sleep spindles and theta- and delta-waves. The standard EMG criteria do not allow the discrimination between fast sleep and wakefulness in dolphins. Behavioral observations alone do not inform about dolphin's sleep or wakefulness. The respiration of dolphins may be observed during bilateral ECoG synchronization in slow sleep without arousal. ECoG synchronization as well as desynchronization may be observed when the contralateral eye is open.