This activity is normally seen during sleep and anesthesia. Is there a scientific consensus about the origin of this activity? If not, what theories are there?
Hi Jukka,
Delta oscillations range from 0.5 to 3.5 Hz and recent evidence regarding a potential association between these brain waves and homeostatic processes, points that the limbic system (the reptile brain) may be involved.
There is an interesting review at: http://michiganbraincoretherapy.com/storage/Scientific%20Research%20SOUTAR/KnyazevDelta.pdf
I hope it helps!
It is very difficult to make a difference between slow waves (0.1-1 Hz) and slow artefacts in EEG.
https://www.elsevier.com/books/slow-brain-oscillations-of-sleep-resting-state-and-vigilance/van-someren/978-0-444-53839-0
The models of Steriade and Amzica fit both sleep and anesthesia slow waves in this range, and also the way sleep and sevoflurane EEG turns into epileptiform patterns, see Yli Hankala A or Sonkajärvi E.
Thank you for your answers. They helped alot. It seems that the slow waves during sleep and anesthesia are considered to be cortical phenomenon. What role do you see the sub-cortical structures such as thalamus to have in the generation of slow waves?
You might want to look at Rodin et al. They have been working on understanding infra-slow activity (
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