This Special Feature explores the various purposes served by sleep, describing current
attempts to understand how the many functions of sleep are instantiated in neural circuits�…

Sleep can be addressed across the entire hierarchy of biological organization. We discuss
neuronal-network and regional forebrain activity during sleep, and its consequences for�…

In recent years neuroscientists have uncovered the countless ways our brain trips us up in
day-to-day life, from its propensity toward irrational thought to how our intuitions deceive us�…

The function of sleep is one of the most persistent and perplexing mysteries in biology. Many
theories have been proposed to explain why we sleep, but most account for only a portion of�…

All our lives, we alternate between wakefulness and sleep with direct consequences on our
ability to interact with our environment, the dynamics and contents of our subjective�…

Sleep is a highly conserved phenomenon in endotherms, and therefore it must serve at least
one basic function across this wide range of species. What that function is remains one of�…

Sleep is a universal, essential biological process. It is also an invaluable window on
consciousness. It tells us that consciousness can be lost but also that it can be regained, in�…

Sleep brings about the most dramatic change in consciousness we are all familiar with.
Consciousness nearly fades during deep sleep early in the night, and returns later on in the�…

Sleep brings about the most dramatic change in consciousness we are all familiar with.
Consciousness nearly fades during deep sleep early in the night, and returns later on in the�…

The importance of sleep can be ascertained by noting the effects of its loss, which tends to
be chronic and partial, on cognition, mood, alertness, and overall health. Many theories�…