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The interplay between auditory slow wave sleep enhancement and sleep continuity and fragility.
We are interested in investigating how auditory stimulation affects sleep beyond slow wave enhancement and whether observed changes are potentially associated to underlying mechanisms gating sensory information.
Sleep is essential for the restoration of brain and body functions. Concretely, the restorative effect of deep sleep in memory has been thoroughly investigated, identifying slow oscillations (SO) dominating the deep sleep EEG are involved in overnight declarative memory consolidation. One way to enhance SO is via auditory stimulation, where auditory tones are played during these oscillations which increase SO occurrence. Recent studies have shown that human sleep undergoes cyclical periods of sleep continuity and fragility that are associated with the gating of sensory information during sleep. This results in sleep periods where we are more susceptible to being aroused by incoming stimuli. As current state of the art auditory SO enhancement does not consider these periods of continuity and fragility and as current sleep scoring guidelines may not lead to the detection of all arousals, it is unclear what is the optimal auditory stimulation modality. Human studies investigating the effects of infra-slow sleep continuity and fragility periods on sleep and memory consolidation have mainly considered young adults. It therefore remains unclear whether the underlying mechanisms gating sensory information are also present in older populations where sleep fragmentation is more common.
Our group has recently completed the data acquisition investigating the effects of overnight closed-loop auditory stimulation in sleep and memory in an elderly cohort.
Become part of a great and motivated, young research team! This interesting project offers the unique opportunity to gain experience with advanced/state-of-the-art electrophysiological techniques. Our motivated team with backgrounds in biomedical engineering and neuroscience is eager to mentor you in advanced data analysis and statistics.
Your Profile
- Advanced Matlab programming skills and signal processing experience (computer science or related field of study)
- Background in biomedical engineering/neuroscience is a plus
- Can work independently but also in a team
- Able to work full time is preferred
- Enrolled in a Swiss university
Sleep is essential for the restoration of brain and body functions. Concretely, the restorative effect of deep sleep in memory has been thoroughly investigated, identifying slow oscillations (SO) dominating the deep sleep EEG are involved in overnight declarative memory consolidation. One way to enhance SO is via auditory stimulation, where auditory tones are played during these oscillations which increase SO occurrence. Recent studies have shown that human sleep undergoes cyclical periods of sleep continuity and fragility that are associated with the gating of sensory information during sleep. This results in sleep periods where we are more susceptible to being aroused by incoming stimuli. As current state of the art auditory SO enhancement does not consider these periods of continuity and fragility and as current sleep scoring guidelines may not lead to the detection of all arousals, it is unclear what is the optimal auditory stimulation modality. Human studies investigating the effects of infra-slow sleep continuity and fragility periods on sleep and memory consolidation have mainly considered young adults. It therefore remains unclear whether the underlying mechanisms gating sensory information are also present in older populations where sleep fragmentation is more common. Our group has recently completed the data acquisition investigating the effects of overnight closed-loop auditory stimulation in sleep and memory in an elderly cohort.
Become part of a great and motivated, young research team! This interesting project offers the unique opportunity to gain experience with advanced/state-of-the-art electrophysiological techniques. Our motivated team with backgrounds in biomedical engineering and neuroscience is eager to mentor you in advanced data analysis and statistics.
Your Profile
- Advanced Matlab programming skills and signal processing experience (computer science or related field of study)
- Background in biomedical engineering/neuroscience is a plus
- Can work independently but also in a team
- Able to work full time is preferred
- Enrolled in a Swiss university
With the already collected dataset of both complete night and task-related brain activity recordings using high-density EEG (128 electrodes), the goal of the thesis will be to investigate:
- the presence of continuity-fragility periods (EEG) during sleep and their relationship to the autonomic system (ECG)
- emerging arousal metrics not applied in standard sleep metrics
- the effects of auditory stimulation in evoking arousals
With the already collected dataset of both complete night and task-related brain activity recordings using high-density EEG (128 electrodes), the goal of the thesis will be to investigate:
- the presence of continuity-fragility periods (EEG) during sleep and their relationship to the autonomic system (ECG)
- emerging arousal metrics not applied in standard sleep metrics
- the effects of auditory stimulation in evoking arousals
Please send a CV and a short cover letter to manuel.carrodominguez@hest.ethz.ch
With "Masters Project: SOs & and Fragility" as subject
Please send a CV and a short cover letter to manuel.carrodominguez@hest.ethz.ch
With "Masters Project: SOs & and Fragility" as subject