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Professor Grostein asked in class why we sleep. Although his question was really asking for what causes us to sleep, I nevertheless thought about why it is important to sleep. His question immediatley reminded me of a sement on 60 Minutes that aired about a year ago called The Science of Sleep (link provided below). The exact answer on why it is important to sleep is still unclear. From an evolutionary standpoint, sleep seems counterproductive. When we plunge into a world of unconsciousness, we are left vulnerable to our surroundings. This suggests that the service sleep provides is far more important than being aware at all times. We can try to evade it, but we all know (perhaps through first hand experience) that lack of sleep comes with serious repercussions. Of the many studies featured on the 60 Minutes segment, one in particular has definitly resonated with me. This particular experiment tested the effects of sleep deprivation on emotional response. A control group that had received a full night’s rest was shown a series of increasingly disturbing images of blood, gore, mutilation, etc. The same procedure was followed for a group of sleep deprived subjects. Brain MRI scans of the control group showed constant and controlled activity in the imigdula, the emotional center of the brain. MRI scans of the experimental group, however, displayed hyperactive brain responses indicating a lack of control in processing information and then in generating an emotional response. Furthermore, scans of the frontal lobe, the region of the brain responsible for cognition, showed a pattern of activity among the experimental group that was similar to that found in patients with severe mental illness such as Schizophrenia. Is it possible that a lack of sleep can somehow interrupt connections between/among regions of the brain?

Although the exact cause of Schizophernia is still under investigation, studies such as the Hollow Mask Illusion Test suggest that the illness is caused, at least in part, by a disconnectivity between or among different regions of the brain. The Hollow Mask Illusion Test reveals that the spatial recognition and visual processing centers of the brain are not communicating in Schizophrenic patients and in the aforementioned mood study, these patients also exhibited such disconnectivity between the emotional and congnitive centers of the brain. 

If processing information such as seeing requires the coordination between or among various regions of the brain, does this "checks and balances" system also apply to emotional responses? In my studies of Modern Art history, I have come across the Freudian theories concerning the id, the ego, and the superego. The belief is that the id is the emotional or irrational part of the mind located deep within the subconcious. The superego, on the other hand, is the moral and perfectionist part of the mind located in the consciousness and arising from societal conditioning. Both the demands of the id and the superego can at times be unrealistic therefore the mind requires the ego to mediate between the two--to find a way to get what the subconcious wants in a reasonable manner. In relating Freud's theories to neurobiology, could the id be seen as a lack of connectivity between/among various parts of the brain, the superego as too much communication of these regions, and the ego as the coordination of these parts? Would Schizophrenic patients have an overactive id?

The Science of Sleep