From the twitching whiskers of babes: Naptime behavior shapes the brain
Thursday, October 18, 2012 - 15:01
in Biology & Nature
The whiskers of newborn rats twitch as they sleep, in a whisker equivalent of rapid-eye-movements, and that could open the door to new understandings about the intimate connections between brain and body. The discovery reinforces the notion that such involuntary movements are a vital contributor to the development of sensorimotor systems, say researchers.