A simple nonlinear deterministic process may generate the timing of rapid eye movements during human REM sleep

The rapid eye movements of REM sleep are its most distinctive observable physiological output. An irregular, seemingly random sequence of time intervals between these rapid eye movements occurs. This paper investigates the possibility that the rapid eye movements of human REM sleep are the output of a "system" that functions as a relatively simple nonlinear deterministic process. The nonlinear analysis techniques of dimension estimation and identification of self-similarity are used to investigate this possibility. The results of this study indicate that a relatively simple (of low dimension) deterministic process may generate the timing of rapid eye movements during human REM sleep.