A study that could call into question the definition of sleep. Researchers from Inserm, CNRS, Sorbonne University and AP-HP publish a study this Thursday in the journal Nature Neurosciences which shows that we are capable of responding to external requests while we sleep.
According to research, people who sleep without special disorders are able to capture verbal information transmitted by the human voice and respond to it with contractions of the facial muscles. However, these abilities appear intermittently during almost all stages of sleep.
There would therefore be intermediate states between wakefulness and sleep. To find out, the researchers analyzed 22 patients without sleep disorders and 27 narcoleptic patients, who are more capable of having lucid dreams (in which they are conscious and can shape the scenario).
a nap test
“One of our previous studies showed that bidirectional communication, from the experimenter to the dreamer and vice versa, is possible during paradoxical lucid dreaming,” Delphine Oudiette, Inserm researcher in cognitive neuroscience, explained in a press release. She wanted to know if these results could generalize to other stages of sleep and to people who do not have lucid dreams.”
To do this, the participants took a nap during which the researchers said a series of real and invented words, which had to provoke a frown or a smile, to classify them. Upon awakening, patients were asked to report whether they had had a lucid dream and whether they remembered interacting with anyone.
“Most participants, narcoleptic or not, were able to respond correctly to verbal stimuli while they were asleep. These events were certainly more frequent during episodes of lucid dreaming, characterized by a high level of consciousness; but we observed them occasionally in both groups . , during all phases of sleep,” revealed Isabelle Arnulf, head of the sleep pathologies service at the Pitié-Salpêtrière AP-HP hospital.
Research continues and it could be used to improve sleep disorders or promote learning, for example. They could also call into question the very definition of sleep – a period during which the body and mind are at rest – as it could be much more active than previously thought.
Source: BFM TV
