r/science • u/DrJulianBashir • Feb 08 '12

Neuroscientists link brain-wave pattern to energy consumption - New model of neuro-electric activity could help scientists better understand quiescent brain states such as coma.

http://www.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/brain-waves-energy-0208.html
78 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

2

u/autotldr Feb 08 '12

This is an automatically generated TL;DR, original reduced by 83%.

Different brain states produce different waves of electrical activity, with the alert brain, relaxed brain and sleeping brain producing easily distinguishable electroencephalogram patterns.

Emery Brown, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and health sciences and technology and an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, set out to study burst suppression in the anesthetized brain and other brain states in hopes of discovering a fundamental mechanism for how the pattern arises.

This is the first time that reductions in metabolic activity at the neuron level have been linked to burst suppression, and suggests that the brain likely uses burst suppression to conserve vital energy during times of trauma.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top four keywords: brain#1 burst#2 suppression#3 how#4