# The interplay between long- and short-range temporal correlations shapes cortex dynamics across vigilance states

## TL;DR

This study reveals that cortical neurons exhibit long-range temporal correlations during wake and REM sleep, which are absent during NREM sleep, indicating sleep's role in reorganizing brain dynamics for optimal function.

## Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of two distinct cortical timescale states and shows how sleep restores long-range correlations lost during NREM sleep.

## Key findings

- Long timescales are present during wake and REM sleep.
- NREM sleep abolishes long-range temporal correlations.
- Sleep restores long timescales after extended wakefulness.

## Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that cortical dynamics during wake exhibits long-range temporal correlations suitable to integrate inputs over extended periods of time to increase the signal-to-noise ratio in decision-making and working memory tasks. Accordingly, sleep has been suggested as a state characterized by a breakdown of long-range correlations; detailed measurements of neuronal timescales that support this view, however, have so far been lacking. Here we show that the long timescales measured at the individual neuron level in freely-behaving rats during the awake state are abrogated during non-REM (NREM) sleep. We provide evidence for the existence of two distinct states in terms of timescale dynamics in cortex: one which is characterized by long timescales which dominate during wake and REM sleep, and a second one characterized by the absence of long-range temporal correlations which characterizes NREM sleep. We observe that both timescale regimes can co-exist and, in combination, lead to an apparent gradual decline of long timescales during extended wake which is restored after sleep. Our results provide a missing link between the observed long timescales in individual neuron fluctuations during wake and the reported absence of long-term correlations during deep sleep in EEG and fMRI studies. They furthermore suggest a network-level function of sleep, to reorganize cortical networks towards states governed by slow cortex dynamics to ensure optimal function for the time awake.