Activity 14.5 Rat Sleep Activity

A rat acting out its dreams after a brain lesion

  1. This rat, which has received a tiny lesion near the locus coeruleus, shows normal activity when awake.
  2. The rat leaps up in arousal from sleep.
  3. While in REM sleep, the rat begins sniffing. It then stands up and falls over.
  4. Although the brain remains in REM sleep the entire time, the rat begins walking around, jumping up in alarm, then walking around some more.
  5. During REM sleep, the rat leaps up in the air, waking itself up.

Textbook Reference: At Least Four Interacting Neural Systems Underlie Sleep pp. 433–438

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