Guldenmund P, et al. - This study explored human neural correlates of sedation with dexmedetomidine or propofol and their similarities with natural sleep, using functional connectivity measures from brain resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Findings demonstrated that during deep non-rapid-eye-movement (N3) sleep and dexmedetomidine-induced unresponsiveness as compared to propofol, thalamic connectivity with key nodes of arousal and saliency detection networks was relatively preserved. It was also observed that these network impacts may explain the rapid recovery of oriented responsiveness to external stimulation seen under dexmedetomidine sedation.