Rotem Falach

Vigilance state dissociation induced by 5-MeO-DMT in mice - Communications Biology Administration of 5-MeO-DMT produces a dissociated brain state in mice, characterized by global slow-wave activity alongside behavioral wakefulness and marked pupil dilation.

Our paper with @vyazovskiy.bsky.social showcasing research conducted at @ox.ac.uk @oxforddpag.bsky.social is out!

We describe the effects of the psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT on brain states and sleep via EEG, LFP & freely moving oculometry.
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#EEG #neuroskyence

How does the brain replay memories during sleep?
Excited to share our new preprint, the outcome of an extensive effort led by Johannes Niediek, showing that reactivation of human concept neurons reflects memory content rather than event sequence.

VTA dopaminergic neuronal activity during NREM sleep is modulated by learning and facilitates motor memory consolidation Activity of VTA dopaminergic neurons during NREM sleep facilitates motor memory consolidation and is coordinated with spindles.

VTA dopaminergic neuronal activity during NREM sleep is modulated by learning and facilitates motor memory consolidation | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Adaptive introgression in modern human circadian rhythm genes - npj Biological Timing and Sleep npj Biological Timing and Sleep - Adaptive introgression in modern human circadian rhythm genes

"This research paves the way for future studies to explore the intricate connections between circadian rhythms, mental health, and immune function, potentially leading to innovative approaches in chronomedicine and personalised healthcare."
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Fan Nils Yang, Jeff H. Duyn, et al:

Increased intra-thalamic and thalamo-cortical functional connections during human REM sleep: Insights from a two-night EEG-fMRI study

doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

Happening tomorrow- join us to hear about open science in sleep research and how it can advance the study of sleep and neurology 🧠💤
9 am PT/ 12 pm ET, Wednesday, November 12: lnkd.in/ggDgvNRN

Falling asleep follows a predictable bifurcation dynamic - Nature Neuroscience Li et al. propose a conceptual framework to study the phenomenon of falling asleep based on electroencephalogram data. They show that a tipping point marks the brain’s nonlinear wake-to-sleep transiti...

The brain’s wake-to-sleep transition follows bifurcation dynamics with a distinct tipping point preceded by a critical slowing down

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Attentional failures after sleep deprivation are locked to joint neurovascular, pupil and cerebrospinal fluid flow dynamics - Nature Neuroscience Yang et al. show that moments of failed attention we experience after sleep deprivation reflect brief ‘sleep-like’ episodes in the brain, corresponding to a brain- and body-wide event with altered bra...

Our paper on CSF, BOLD, pupil, and physiological measures in sleep deprivation and recovery sleep is finally out! 🎉 Congrats Zinong! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Simultaneous EEG-PET-MRI identifies temporally coupled and spatially structured brain dynamics across wakefulness and NREM sleep - Nature Communications Using simultaneous EEG-PET-MRI, this study reveals tightly coupled physiological dynamics during the descent from wakefulness into NREM sleep and identifies network-specific activity underlying sensor...

Simultaneous EEG-PET-MRI identifies temporally coupled and spatially structured brain dynamics across wakefulness and NREM sleep
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/ "Hemispherotomy leads to persistent sleep-like slow waves in the isolated cortex of awake humans" - out now in @plosbiology.org, led by Michele Colombo, Jacopo Favaro, & Marcello Massimini. 🧠

Incorporation of complex narratives into dreaming Statement of Significance This study introduces a systematic approach to assessing dream incorporation by linking presleep experiences to dream content usi

There is a link between dreaming and memory consolidation. In this experiment, researchers put this theory to the test by recording dreams after #REM and #NREM sleep. academic.oup.com/sleep/articl...

Induction of cortical ON/OFF periods in awake mice fulfills sleep functions Can animals obtain core benefits of sleep while remaining awake? In mammals, slow-wave sleep is characterized by synchronized neuronal activity alternating between ON and OFF periods. Slow-wave activi...

Kort Driessen, Fabio Squarcio, Giulio Tononi, Chiara Cirelli

"Induction of cortical ON/OFF periods in awake mice fulfills sleep functions"

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

The locus coeruleus maintains core body temperature and protects against hypothermia during dexmedetomidine-induced sedation - PubMed Activating the <i>adra2a</i> receptors of the brain's norepinephrine (NE) system produces NREM-like sleep and hypothermia. Dexmedetomidine (DEX), a selective α2 receptor (<i>adra2a</i>) agonist, is an...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41055995/

Cannabis and sleep architecture: A systematic review and meta-analysis Cannabis use for sleep is increasingly prevalent, yet its effects on sleep architecture remain unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis exami…

Cannabis and sleep architecture: A systematic review and meta-analysis

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A follow-up to this SRS podcast:

sleepresearchsocietypodcast.podbean.com/e/srs-podcas...

Sleep deprivation exhibits age-dependent effect on infra-slow global brain activity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.12.675828v1

Bidirectional modulation of sleep and wakefulness via prefrontal cortical chemogenetics The drive to sleep is inescapable but its biological substrate remains largely elusive. Until recently, the search for sleep centres in the mammalian brain focussed on subcortical neurons that promote...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Trauma under psychedelics: how psychoactive substances impact trauma processing Click on the article title to read more.

Just published in World Psychiatry our study "Trauma under psychedelics: how psychoactive substances impact trauma processing" . Amazing work led by @ophirnetzer.bsky.social with the brave survivors of the Nova festival attack. Huge team effort, thx to all!
👉 doi.org/10.1002/wps....

My super talented labmates are doing it again 🎉💪

Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning Nature - Human exploration is driven by two distinct neural mechanisms, a valence-independent rate signal and a valence-dependent global noise signal.

Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning:

Congratulations to my colleagues Rony Paz, Ido Strauss, Firas Fahoum for landing this exciting paper in Nature!

rdcu.be/eCJLb

Aperiodic EEG Activity Provides a Linear, Bidirectional, and Spatially Uniform Marker of Subjective and Objective Vigilance in Humans, Both Within and Across States Vigilance is increasingly conceived as a continuum, ranging from full alertness to deep sleep. Despite its fundamental role in cognition, behaviour, and health, reliable physiological markers of vigil...

Aperiodic EEG Activity Provides a Linear, Bidirectional, and Spatially Uniform Marker of Subjective and Objective Vigilance in Humans, Both Within and Across States www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Sleep-like slow waves during wakefulness uncover a malignant form of Parkinson’s disease Slow waves during sleep are fundamental for neural homeostasis, metabolic regulation, and waste clearance, and are known to be altered in neurodegenerative diseases. Sleep-like slow waves (SLSW) have ...

Slow waves during sleep are fundamental for neural homeostasis and are impaired in neurodegenerative diseases. But what about sleep-like slow waves during wakefulness? Are these slow waves altered in Parkinson's disease? Are these slow waves uncovering psychosis?

Excited to present our new work reading minds!

Ok, not *that* kind of mind reading, but we have created a deep learning method capable of using single neuron recordings from people watching episodes of TV that can predict when they recall specific memories from the episode. 1/6

REM Sleep Misfires: Intruding Delta Waves Forecast Tau, Amyloid, and Forgetting in Aging Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep degrades with age, and more severely in Alzheimer's disease (AD). REM sleep comprises about twenty percent of adult sleep, alternates between phasic and tonic periods, a...

Fresh results now in bioRxiv! 🎉 We know about the function of NREM sleep for overnight memory consolidation. But what about REM sleep? We found that in aging, slow delta waves can intrude phasic REM periods, and this, is associated with worse overnight consolidation 🧠 (1/5) doi.org/10.1101/2025...

#EEGManyLabs website is now live: eegmanylabs.org
A home for our global effort to test the replicability of influential EEG findings, share resources, improve methods in cognitive neuroscience, and grow an open, connected community.

Interested in how emotions surface in dreams across the night? In this new paper, Jessica Palmieri, @valentinaelce.bsky.social and I report about the “Nightly dynamics of emotional content in dreams.”

doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

Dopamine induces fear extinction by activating the reward-responding amygdala neurons | PNAS The extinction of conditioned fear responses is crucial for adaptive behavior, and its impairment is a hallmark of anxiety disorders such as posttr...

Dopamine induces fear extinction by activating the reward-responding amygdala neurons | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Illustration from Ana Yael https://www.anayael.com/

💤🧠🧪 New article! 🧪🧠💤

After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com

**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni

Happy and proud to finally see this out!
I am excited about our new approach to collect episodic memories independent of verbal report. Please reach out if interested!

It was an absolute pleasure working with Omer, Daniel Yuval and all the rest

A top-down control of stress-induced REM sleep shortening Chouvaeff et al. show that social defeat stress recruits prefrontal projections to the VLPO to selectively shorten REM sleep bouts, even after overall REM amounts return to baseline. This pathway prom...

Interesting study showing that stress shortens REM sleep through an action of the PFC 🧠💤
www.cell.com/current-biol...

article published in Neuroscience of Consciousness

What would you like to dream about? Here's a suggestion. Our new paper, co-first-authored by PhD students Daniel Morris and Blaise Elliott, describes a way to provoke lucid dreams about revisiting a profound Virtual-Reality experience - academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...