Sleep: Keeping One Eye Open

Sleep: Keeping One Eye Open

Unihemispheric sleep, during which one half of the brain sleeps while the other half remains awake, is seen in some aquatic mammals and birds, particularly in risky situations. It now appears that humans sleeping in unfamiliar environments do something quite similar.

Sleeping with one eye open: loneliness and sleep quality in young adults

BACKGROUND Feelings of loneliness are common among young adults, and are hypothesized to impair the quality of sleep. In the present study, we tested associations between loneliness and sleep quality in a nationally representative sample of young adults. Further, based on the hypothesis that sleep problems in lonely individuals are driven by increased vigilance for threat, we tested whether pas...

Why do birds sleep with one eye open? Light exposure of the chick embryo as a determinant of monocular sleep

Together with some aquatic mammals, birds exhibit a unique behavioral and electrophysiological state called "unihemispheric sleep," in which one cerebral hemisphere is awake and the other is sleeping. Slow-wave sleep in one hemisphere is associated with closure of the contralateral eye, while the eye contralateral to the awake hemisphere is open; closure of both eyes, in contrast, is associated...

Keeping Society's Options Open

Eye Movements: Keeping Vision Stable

A long-standing problem for vision researchers is how our perception of the world remains stable despite the continual motion of our eyes. Three recent studies begin to shed light on how the visual system suppresses the motion generated by these eye movements.