Twitches during N2 and N3 are coupled with sleep spindles but not delta oscillations in 6-month-old infants.

Twitches are discrete movements that characterize REM sleep. However, recent work showed that twitches also occur during NREM sleep in human infants beginning around 3 months of age, a time when sleep spindles and the cortical delta rhythm are also emerging. Further, NREM twitches co-occur with sleep spindles, suggesting a unique functional role. Given that NREM sleep is composed of distinct substages, we investigated whether twitching and twitch-spindle coupling are differentially expressed during N2 and N3 sleep. In 6-month-old human infants (n=21; 7 females), we recorded EEG, respiration, and video during daytime sleep. We found that the high intensity of twitching during N2 resembled REM more than N3. In contrast, sleep spindles exhibited similar temporal characteristics during N2 and N3. Also, despite differences in the intensity of twitching during N2 and N3, significant twitch-spindle coupling occurred in both stages. Finally, twitch rate was inversely related to delta power across NREM periods. These findings suggest that although twitching occurs during REM, N2, and N3 sleep at this age, its expression is compatible with some sleep components (e.g., rapid eye movements, sleep spindles) but not others (e.g., cortical delta), highlighting the continuing need to better understand the dynamic organization of sleep and its individual components in early development.