The sleeping bird gets the song. Focus on: 'HVC neural sleep activity increases with development and parallels nightly changes in song behavior'.

摘要

What is sleep's function? Despite different opinions, there is consensus that sleep is not a passive state but rather involves active changes in brain metabolism and neuronal activity including, in terrestrial animals, alternation between two sleep stages, rapid-eye movements (REM) and non-REM sleep (selected reviews: Markov and Goldman 2006; Siegel 2005). In adult human imaging and behavioral studies, sleep disruption affects cognitive and motor function (selected references: Kuriyama et al.'2004; Maquet 2001; Stricker et al. 2006). But does sleep affect a developing animal's cognitive capacity? In this issue of Journal of Neurophysiology (p. 232-240), Cran-dall, Adam, Kinnischtzke, and Nick (2007) provide evidence that neural activity in sleeping juvenile songbirds parallels learning and may ultimately influence their "songsmanship."