Thursday, November 29, 2012

From Scientific American: The Case of the Sleeping Slayer

The Case of the Sleeping Slayer 


by James Vlahos
  • Whether or not the brain is asleep or awake is not an either-or proposition, according to some scientists.
  • Their research suggests that what we recognize as sleep—closed eyes, physical stillness and lack of consciousness—occurs only after a number of different parts of the brain cycle into a sleep state.
  • If this partial-sleep hypothesis is correct, some parts of the brain may be asleep while we actually appear to be awake, and vice versa.
  • This new view could explain why, in extremely rare cases, individuals may commit serious crimes, including murder, during sleep.

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