The relationship between the level of consciousness and the level of brain activation was studied. The model providing gradual
decreases in the level of consciousness consisted of states in the transition from waking to drowsiness. The measure of the
level of consciousness, measured from subjects’ self-assessments, was the change in the content of consciousness, i.e., the
intensity and quality of involuntarily arising mental processes. Each of the levels of consciousness was found to correspond
to a defined EEG profile. The results showed that the lowest level of activation corresponded to the state in which the subjects
noted inhibition of “inner speech” and “cessation of thoughts,” this being associated with a change in the dynamics of the
high-frequency EEG rhythm associated with the mechanism of transmission of cognitive information.
Key words consciousness - electroencephalogram - spectral power
__________
Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 91, No. 4, pp. 353–363, April, 2005.