Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea

A 5-year-old boy with a 1-year history of loud snoring, witnessed apneas, and daytime hyperactivity undergoes overnight polysomnography. The study shows an apnea-hypopnea index of 14.6 events/hour with predominantly obstructive events. The EEG montage reveals a stereotyped pattern coinciding with each obstructive event: an abrupt 3–10 second shift in EEG frequency (alpha, theta, or frequencies >16 Hz) with increased chin EMG tone, immediately following respiratory event termination. This pattern, marked as **A** in the diagram, occurs 18 times per hour. Which of the following best explains how the polysomnographic feature marked **A** contributes to this child's daytime neurobehavioral symptoms?