2019/02/14 by Karine Guimarães, Guimarães, Karine
Neuroscience · Psychology · #FOS: Biological sciences #Mind wandering and attention #Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC) #Sleep and Wakefulness Research #Sleep and related disorders
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1902.05515
openalex publication_date 2019/02/14 · openalex created_date 2022/07/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We previously developed a neurocomputational model called the reward-attention circuit, which has been used to investigate the separate effects of nicotine and alcohol on attention focus. The model is based on known circuits linking midbrain dopaminergic neurons to the thalamocortical loop and is sufficiently versatile to capture diverse phenomena. In this work, we used the model to study the influence of both nicotine and alcohol on sleep latency (time to fall asleep). In line with findings from other studies, our simulations suggest that nicotine can have a stimulating effect that increases sleep latency, promoting wakefulness, and, in contrast, alcohol can have a sedating effect that induces sleep. Together, our results suggest insights into alterations in mesothalamic dopamine activity and sleep. Also, they raise speculations about aspects of insomnia and low mesothalamic dopamine.