ABSTRACT
In 1951, Giuseppe Moruzzi and Horace Winchell Magoun published a landmark paper, showing the existence of an ascending reticular formation that governed the states of sleep and waking though its control over the rhythmical electrical activity of the cerebral cortex. Their original intent was to electrically stimulate the superior cerebellar peduncle – a major output pathway of the cerebellum, which passes through the lower midbrain to the ipsilateral ventrolateral nuclei of the thalamus. As Moruzzi and Magoun examined their electroencephalograph effect further, they realised that the desynchronised activity occurred in many cortical regions and was not limited to the precentral gyrus. By stimulating the cerebellar peduncle, it was possible that Moruzzi and Magoun were inadvertently activating the brain's reticular formation. Moruzzi and Magoun realised, however, that their findings pointed to an alternative explanation – namely, the reticular formation acted as the brain's arousal centre and it actively implemented the stages of waking and sleep independent of any sensory stimulation.
