A method for automatic REM sleep segmentation

A basic property of REM sleep is that is not a uniform stage. Two kinds of variations are particularly significant. First, a remarkable amount of literature, based on polygraphic signals, fMRI images, and psychophysiological data, has shown that "phasic" epochs, presenting distinct oculomotor activity, should be distinguished from "tonic" epochs. Second, recent litarature has provided interesting data about slow eye movements (SEMs), which are present during REM sleep in addition to rapid eye movements (REMs), although, according to Rechtshaffen and Kales (1968), during REM sleep SEMs "do not approach the abundance magnitude, and pendular pattern of the slow eye movements during stage 1".