The effect of sleep deprivation on learning and behavior in songbirds

Abstract

Sleep has been suggested to be important for learning and memory in humans and other mammals. Songbirds are frequently used as a model to study learning and memory due to their vocal learning abilities, only present in a few taxa apart from humans. Artificial language acquisition in human infants has been shown to correlate with napping; however, causality is unknown. Before we could study causality between sleep and vocal learning and memory, we first had to come up with an effective sleep deprivation setup that would maximize the balance between effectiveness at sleep deprivation and welfare of our model, zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Previously, no sleep deprivation setup has been used on zebra finches. We wanted to see if sleep deprivation had an effect on behavior (daily activity, song production frequency), physiology (weight change, food and water intake) or cognition (spatial memory). If there was a clear and consistent change in these measures before and after sleep deprivation, we could conclude the sleep deprivation setup was effective, and we would be able to test the causality between sleep and vocal learning and memory. We did not find a consistent change in behavior before and after sleep deprivation, a consistent or pronounced change in physiology, or a reliable change in cognitive performance due to small sample size. In the future, we will have to use a larger sample size and test other behavioral measures like body temperature and breathing patterns, endocrinological measures, and neural measures like EEG to ascertain the sleep deprivation setup is working. Once we have an effective sleep deprivation setup for zebra finches, then we will be able to test the causality between sleep and vocal learning and memory, which could elucidate why individuals with SLI (specific learning impairment), who have atypical sleeping patterns, exhibit language learning deficits.