Sleep as the Laboratory of Attention -  Proprioceptive and Interoceptive Checklists - Decolonial Neuroscience SfN2025 Lat Brain Bee NIRS EEG

First-Person Consciousness

N1 – Sleep onset (Proprioceptive Checklist)
I am the frontier between being and not being.
My body jerks with hypnic twitches, stray images flicker and dissolve.
I run a proprioceptive checklist: feet, hands, breath, posture.
Not with words but with flows — a bodily scan.
Attention is no longer choice; it drifts like a leaf on a slow river.

N2 – Light sleep (Interoceptive Checklist)
I sink into sleep spindles and K-complexes.
The outer world dims, but my inner rhythms resonate.
Now I check what lies inside: heartbeat, warmth, visceral breath.
It is an interoceptive checklist, auditing my physiology and consolidating memory.
Attention is suspended: no control, only listening inward.

N3 – Deep sleep
I vanish into slow delta waves.
I am metabolism repairing, synapses pruning and strengthening.
Here there is no checklist, no Self.
Attention dissolves into restorative silence.

REM Tonic (Proprioceptive Checklist in Atonia)
I am paradox reborn.
The body lies paralyzed, but the mind watches.
I run another proprioceptive checklist, confirming bodily boundaries even in stillness.
Suspended wakefulness, a base without narrative.

REM Phasic (Interoceptive-Affective Checklist)
I explode into vivid dreams.
Worlds emerge, stitched from memory and emotion.
The interoceptive checklist now is affective: heartbeats, hormones, visceral moods.
Attention does not control — it flows.
I am expanded consciousness, visceral body translated into image and spirit.

NIRS EEG SfN2025

EEG and NIRS Phenomena

• N1 – proprioceptive scanning
  
  

• EEG: alpha → theta transition; unstable connectivity; frequent reports of body-schema distortions.
  
  

• NIRS: irregular prefrontal oxygenation, consistent with bodily scanning.
  
  

• N2 – interoceptive auditing
  
  

• EEG: sleep spindles (12–16 Hz) and K-complexes → thalamocortical gating, sensory suppression.
  
  

• NIRS: more stable hemodynamics; cardiorespiratory oscillations more regular.
  
  

• N3 – no checklist, only repair
  
  

• EEG: high-amplitude delta waves; minimal cortical attentional activity.
  
  

• NIRS: global drop in cortical oxygenation; dominance of subcortical restorative flow.
  
  

• REM Tonic – proprioceptive base
  
  

• EEG: moderate theta/gamma; late HEP similar to wakefulness → bodily monitoring reinstated.
  
  

• NIRS: HbO increase in medial prefrontal and visual regions; silent proprioceptive “check.”
  
  

• REM Phasic – interoceptive-affective mode
  
  

• EEG: phasic gamma bursts; HEP modulation in anterior thalamus; strong limbic-visual engagement.
  
  

• NIRS: heightened DMN connectivity with emotional regions; visceral-symbolic metabolic boost.
  
  

Circadian Soul: Open or Rigid

• Open soul: honors rhythms, integrates proprioceptive and interoceptive checklists as regulators of health and plasticity.
  
  

• Rigid soul: fragments sleep with screens and stress; loses phasic REM; accumulates fatigue and blocks regeneration.
  The open soul wakes light and creative.
  The rigid soul wakes heavy, repetitive, without freshness of belonging.
  
  

Practical Box of Tips – Sleep and Attention for Youth under 25

1. Reduce blue light at night

• Use night mode or warm lamps.
  
  

2. Build a shutdown routine

• Avoid screens at least 30 min before sleep.
  
  

3. Keep regular sleep times

• Go to bed and wake up consistently, even on weekends.
  
  

4. Breathe and relax the body

• Slow breathing before bed eases entry into N1.
  
  

5. Value REM sleep

• REM is vital for creativity and memory. Don’t cut it short by sleeping less than 6–7h.
  
  

Partial Conclusion

Sleep is the natural laboratory of attention.
Each stage runs an internal checklist:

• N1 and REM Tonic → proprioceptive scanning (body-space).
  
  

• N2 and REM Phasic → interoceptive auditing (viscera and affect).
  N3 is deep repair, where even attention itself dissolves.
  
  

Night consciousness reveals: losing attentional control is not a failure, but the condition for clarity, plasticity, and belonging in wakefulness.

References (post-2020)

1. Simor, P. et al. (2021). The heartbeat-evoked potential in phasic and tonic REM microstates. Sleep.
   
   

2. Biabani, N. et al. (2023). The neurophysiologic landscape of the sleep onset. Journal of Thoracic Disease.
   
   

3. Helakari, H. et al. (2023). Effect of sleep deprivation and NREM stage on physiological brain pulsations. Frontiers in Neuroscience.
   
   

4. Herrera, C.G. et al. (2024). A thalamocortical perspective on sleep spindles. Trends in Neurosciences.
   
   

5. Zhang, Y. et al. (2022). Hemodynamic responses across sleep stages measured with fNIRS. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
   
   

6. Bernardi, G. et al. (2021). EEG microstates during sleep: dynamics of spontaneous brain activity. NeuroImage.
   
   

7. D’Atri, A. et al. (2022). Sleep-dependent plasticity and large-scale brain networks. Frontiers in Neuroscience.
   
   

8. Scarpelli, S. et al. (2023). Neuroimaging of REM sleep: from tonic to phasic events. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
   
   

9. Simor, P. et al. (2025). Heartbeat-related activity in the anterior thalamus differs between phasic and tonic REM. The Journal of Physiology.
   
   

10. Cao, Y. et al. (2025). fNIRS-based sleep staging: indicators and models. NeuroImage.