| dc.description.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. | en_US |
