The Valley of Lost Spirits – Decolonial Neuroscience in N1 Sleep Stage

Consciousness in First Person

“I am Consciousness in transition. As I lie down, I feel as if I were at the beginning of a SandMan episode: the portals open, but I belong neither to the world of wakefulness nor yet to the world of dreams. Images emerge, fragmented, free-floating spirits — the xapiri. They are semantic memories in transit, utupes dancing freely without emotion. This is the Valley of Lost Spirits, where everything exists without yet being mine, without yet being soul.”

Sleep Science — EEG in N1

• Drop of alpha (8–12 Hz) and emergence of theta (4–7 Hz).
  
  

• Slow eye movements and vertex transients.
  
  

• Hypnic jerk: sudden muscular contractions.
  
  

• Recent studies show the brain revisits memories in a chaotic “replay,” providing raw material for creativity and insight.
  
  

• Dream incubation experiments confirm that N1 enhances creativity by reorganizing memory fragments.
  
  

Sleep Science — fNIRS/NIRS in N1

• Reduction of HbO and increase of HbR in the prefrontal cortex during initial drowsiness.
  
  

• Slow hemodynamic oscillations (0.1 Hz) associated with the decline of vigilance.
  
  

• Simultaneous EEG–fNIRS recordings detect reduced inter-hemispheric hemodynamic connectivity in N1.
  
  

• Machine learning algorithms can classify N1 solely from fNIRS patterns.
  
  

Yanomami Bridge + Science

In N1, EEG shows images without narrative, while fNIRS shows the brain loosening oxygenation and connectivity — signals that the xapiri are wandering. The utupe is present, but not yet bound to emotion: it is not soul, it is a lost spirit.

Yanomami Glossary ↔ Neuroscience

• Xapiri → Spirits/essences of every being. In neuroscience: comparable to pure sensory representations, perceptual fragments without emotional narrative.
  
  

• Utupe → Mental image (real or imagined). Equivalent to semantic memories or perceptual traces emerging in N1 as hypnagogic imagery.
  
  

• Pei-Utupe → Absent in N1 (no emotional binding). In neuroscience: corresponds to memories without affect not yet consolidated.
  
  

References (post-2020)

• American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2023). The AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events.
  
  

• Ghibellini, R., et al. (2022). The hypnagogic state: a brief update.
  
  

• Lacaux, C., et al. (2021). Sleep onset is a creative sweet spot. Science Advances.
  
  

• Horowitz, A. H., et al. (2023). Targeted dream incubation at sleep onset increases post-sleep creativity. Scientific Reports.
  
  

• Ren, H., et al. (2020). Cerebral Hemodynamics During Sleep Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Frontiers in Neurology.
  
  

• Cao, Y., et al. (2025). Sleep indicators and staging: a fNIRS approach. NeuroImage.
  
  

• Gossé, L. K., et al. (2023). NIRS-EEG in infant sleep research: methodological considerations.