Incredible as it seemed, the medical team concluded that sleepwalking was the one explanation that fit all the facts of the case. And indeed, as James Vlahos reports in the September 2012 issue of Scientific American, research over the past two decades since the Toronto tragedy supports the idea that the brain does not fall asleep all at once; and in some small number of individuals the timing with which various regions of the brain go offline becomes so disorganized that these people can walk, sleep, drive or cook entire meals without any awareness of what they are doing.
Why did Parks drive to his in-laws' home in his sleep rather than some other random address? Researchers believe that the part of his brain that wasn't asleep was just enacting what he had planned to do later that day. Why did Parks attack his in-laws so violently? Even the prosecution could not come up with a motive for the crime. Nor did it suggest that there was any advantage Parks might have gained because of it.
More than likely, sleep scientists think, Parks was not acting out a dream. The kind of sleepwalking he experienced occurs during a stage of sleep in which dreams are uncommon and consist mostly of fragmentary images. In addition, the part of the brain that tells us which actions are appropriate in a given situation (the prefrontal cortex), is inactive in this stage of sleep.
Instead, it appears that Dennis Woods found his son-in-law wandering about in the dark, tried to stop him and Parks responded as if his life were in danger. The part of his brain that could have told him otherwise was so exhausted by the previous night's insomnia and the stress of his gambling debts that it was, tragically, unavailable to inhibit his lethal actions.
Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.
See what we're tweeting about
9 Comments
Add Comment"Sleep-or-wake is not an all-or-none phenomenon. It occurs on a spectrum." I wonder whether old-age senility has something to do with this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople who become senile with Alzheimers disease sometimes forget second spouses, or imagine their middle-aged children still to be, well, children -- even during waking hours. In the early stages they are said to do better on some days than others. Yet, I have many of these symptoms in my sleep when I dream.
As a child I was always my current age in dreams, as were the people I knew when I dreamed about them. Now, in my 50s, in my dreams I am usually much younger than my current age. In these dreams I often have no knowledge of newer family members though they are important to me today. A more up-to-date version of reality comes to me as I wake up.
We know that the aging brain becomes less efficient with age. The aging brain can forget how to fight disease leaving the aged more vulnerable to infections. It can forget how to regulate the heartbeat -- leading to a quick death unless a pacemaker is installed. We also know that the much of the brain deterioration characteristic of senility also occurs in people who did not become senile.
The percentage of people who become senile increases with age. Perhaps senility results from an aging brain's increasing inability to maintain a firm boundary between sleep and wakefulness. Perhaps the the difference between those who become senile by a given age versus those who do not is determined not so much by overall brain deterioration so much as the age at which this specific capability breaks down.
Wonderful. Homocidal maniacs are ALWAYS dangerous and thereby institutionalized to protect the public. However, this guy is only deadly when he's asleep, so he can only murder innocent people at night... why institutionalize him, then? It's not like he's dangerous to the public during daylight hours.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry to tell you something that seems so irrelevant,but I have never ever heard of such possible behavior in sleepwalkers. I have never met anybody that is a sleepwalker, but I have, of course, heard about sleepwalking. It is really amazing and terrifying the story told in this article. I am very sorry about the participants. Scientific American continues to be a good source of information. I hope it continues that way. I bet it will, and we must support SA as much as we can!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo maybe his mixed sleeping/awake faculties were "enacting what he had planned to do later that day" as he drove to the Woods' home.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd maybe "Dennis Woods found his son-in-law wandering about in the dark, tried to stop him and Parks responded as if his life were in danger."
But, if so, why in the world did Parks open the trunk of his car and arm himself with a TIRE IRON before entering his in-laws' home?
The article doesn't state whether he was institutionalized or not, but if you commit a crime, the legal process should take steps to insure that you are unlikely to do so again.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI, somewhat vaguely (read it 30-40 years ago) remember a similar case in France, the "culprit" was a prosecutor, who had killed several people while sleepwalking, couldn't remember a thing, but was himself convinced by a footprint he had left on a beach (he was missing a big toe).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe solomonic sentence was, that he had to spend every night in jail, but was free in the daytime.
I hope he didn't take afternoon naps!
I really do wonder if the sleepwalking was the cause or just a coincidental factor. Certainly the case mentioned in Sep 2012 SciAm of the sleepwalker who committed murder two days after visiting a sleep centre is suspect. The fellow was given an increase in "anti-anxiety" medication by the sleep centre. These drugs have been empirically demonstrated to increase the risk and severity of manic episodes and is more likely to be the cause than the long term non-violent sleepwalking condition he exhibited.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe older, wiser "nightwatch" in the old state hospitals would waken patients by kicking the foot of the bed, because of the occasional violent sleeper.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am sorry but I am a firm believer that your sub-conscous will not allow you to do something in your sleep that you would not normally do when you are awake. I do not for one moment subscribe to this nonsense. It is just another lame excuse for people commit a crime, and then blame it on a something that can not be proven.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs kimbarator said if he was just wondering around why is it that he “first” got the iron bar out of the boot of his car, it is obvious he had intention, before entering his inlaws house, and if had intention, he could not possibly have been sleep walking. How any jury could fall for this rubbish is beyond me, no matter how many ‘specialists’ they bring out there is no way logically thinking you could let Parks off, he should have been given life.