Cortical brain wave patterns and their related arousal levels are regulated by the brainstem's reticular formation stimulating the thalamus and cortex. The extended reticular-thalamic activation system (ERTAS) interprets and reacts to information from internal stimuli, feelings, attitudes, and beliefs as well as external sensory stimuli by regulating cortical arousal levels. In the ERTAS model, cortico-thalamic projections transport rhythmic bursts of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine via the thalamus to the cortex. Lower portions of the reticular formation (the locus coeruleus and the raphe nuclei) provide the neurotransmitters noradrealine and serotonin via 'fountains' that largely bypass the thalamus on their way to the cortex. It is the balance between these neurotransmitters that changes (or maintains) arousal levels (as measured by rhythmic EEG patterns throughout the cortex) and the ERTAS plays an active roll in regulating this balance.
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