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Updated: May 5, 2026

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice
Published on: August 2, 2017
Prediction and verification of nonlinear sleep spindle harmonic oscillations
R G Abeysuriya1, C J Rennie2, P A Robinson1
1School of Physics, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia; Brain Dynamics Center, Sydney Medical School - Western, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales 2145, Australia; Center for Integrated Research and Understanding of Sleep, Glebe, New South Wales 2037, Australia.
Abstract:
This paper examines nonlinear effects in a neural field model of the corticothalamic system to predict the EEG power spectrum of sleep spindles. Nonlinearity in the thalamic relay nuclei gives rise to a spindle harmonic visible in the cortical EEG. By deriving an analytic expression for nonlinear spectrum, the power in the spindle harmonic is predicted to scale quadratically with the power in the spindle oscillation. By isolating sleep spindles from background sleep in experimental EEG data, the spindle harmonic is directly observed.
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