NEWS: NPD: Sleeping birds dream about singing - brain study

[janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Researchers say sleeping birds dream about singing

WASHINGTON (December 17, 1998 6:46 p.m. EST <>) - 
Sleeping birds dream and dream about the songs they sing during the day, 
researchers said on Thursday.

They said their findings add to evidence that dreaming helps animals -- 
including humans -- "rehearse" things they have learned to do in the day, and 
help them perform better the next day.

Biologist Daniel Margoliash and colleagues at the University of Chicago were 
studying zebra finches.

They noticed that when the birds were asleep, their brains showed a burst of 
activity in an area known as the robustus archistratalis (RA), which is known 
to be involved in singing.

"One would expect this area to be quiescent during sleep," Margoliash, who 
published the study in the journal Science, said in a statement.

They played recordings of the birds singing while the birds were awake, asleep 
and knocked out with anesthesia. They looked at the electrical activity in the 
RA of the birds.

The awake birds showed no response -- just their normal, oscillating patterns. 
But the sleeping or unconscious birds showed strong bursts of activity from the 
RA. When they were awakened, the signals went back to normal.

"This is surprising because the same neurons that show no response during the 
day have these strong responses to the bird's own song when they are asleep," 
Margoliash said.

"It's possible that songs learned during the day affect the bursting patterns 
of the RA at night, serving to solidify the newly learned songs in the animal's 
mind."

By DAVE SKIDMORE, Associated Press Writer
Copyright 1998 Nando Media
Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service

janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada
janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx