SUMMARY Birds provide a unique opportunity to evaluate current theories for the function of sleep. Like mammalian sleep, avian sleep is composed of two states, slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep that apparently evolved independently in mammals and birds. Despite this resemblance, however, it has been unclear whether avian SWS shows a compensatory response to sleep loss (i.e., homeostatic regulation), a fundamental aspect of mammalian sleep potentially linked to the function of SWS. Here, we prevented pigeons (Columba livia) from taking their normal naps during the last 8 h of the day. Although time spent in SWS did not change significantly following short-term sleep deprivation, electroencephalogram (EEG) slow-wave activity (SWA; i.e., 0.78-2.34 Hz power density) during SWS increased significantly during the first 3 h of the recovery night when compared with the undisturbed night, and progressively declined thereafter in a manner comparable to that observed in similarly sleep-deprived mammals. SWA was also elevated during REM sleep on the recovery night, a response that might reflect increased SWS pressure and the concomitant Ôspill-overÕ of SWSrelated EEG activity into short episodes of REM sleep. As in rodents, power density during SWS also increased in higher frequencies (9-25 Hz) in response to short-term sleep deprivation. Finally, time spent in REM sleep increased following sleep deprivation. The mammalian-like increase in EEG spectral power density across both low and high frequencies, and the increase in time spent in REM sleep following sleep deprivation suggest that some aspects of avian and mammalian sleep are regulated in a similar manner.k e y w o r d s bird, evolution, pallium, phylogeny, sleep function, slow-wave activity

The function of the brain activity that defines slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in mammals is unknown. During SWS, the level of electroencephalogram slow wave activity (SWA or 0.5 -4.5 Hz power density) increases and decreases as a function of prior time spent awake and asleep, respectively. Such dynamics occur in response to waking brain use, as SWA increases locally in brain regions used more extensively during prior wakefulness. Thus, SWA is thought to reflect homeostatically regulated processes potentially tied to maintaining optimal brain functioning. Interestingly, birds also engage in SWS and REM sleep, a similarity that arose via convergent evolution, as sleeping reptiles and amphibians do not show similar brain activity. Although birds deprived of sleep show global increases in SWA during subsequent sleep, it is unclear whether avian sleep is likewise regulated locally. Here, we provide, to our knowledge, the first electrophysiological evidence for local sleep homeostasis in the avian brain. After staying awake watching David Attenborough's The Life of Birds with only one eye, SWA and the slope of slow waves (a purported marker of synaptic strength) increased only in the hyperpallium-a primary visual processing region-neurologically connected to the stimulated eye. Asymmetries were specific to the hyperpallium, as the non-visual mesopallium showed a symmetric increase in SWA and wave slope. Thus, hypotheses for the function of mammalian SWS that rely on local sleep homeostasis may apply also to birds.

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The transition from wakefulness to sleep is marked by pronounced changes in brain activity. The brain rhythms that characterize the two main types of mammalian sleep, slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, are thought to be involved in the functions of sleep. In particular, recent theories suggest that the synchronous slow-oscillation of neocortical neuronal membrane potentials, the defining feature of SWS, is involved in processing information acquired during wakefulness. According to the Standard Model of memory consolidation, during wakefulness the hippocampus receives input from neocortical regions involved in the initial encoding of an experience and binds this information into a coherent memory trace that is then transferred to the neocortex during SWS where it is stored and integrated within preexisting memory traces. Evidence suggests that this process selectively involves direct connections from the hippocampus to the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a multimodal, high-order association region implicated in coordinating the storage and recall of remote memories in the neocortex. The slowoscillation is thought to orchestrate the transfer of information from the hippocampus by temporally coupling hippocampal sharp-wave/ripples (SWRs) and thalamocortical spindles. SWRs are synchronous bursts of hippocampal activity, during which waking neuronal firing patterns are reactivated in the hippocampus and neocortex in a coordinated manner. Thalamocortical spindles are brief 7-14 Hz oscillations that may facilitate the encoding of information reactivated during SWRs. By temporally coupling the readout of information from the hippocampus with conditions conducive to encoding in the neocortex, the slow-oscillation is thought to mediate the transfer of information from the hippocampus to the neocortex. Although several lines of evidence are consistent with this function for mammalian SWS, it is unclear whether SWS serves a similar function in birds, the only taxonomic group other than mammals to exhibit SWS and REM sleep. Based on our review of research on avian sleep, neuroanatomy, and memory, although involved in some forms of memory consolidation, avian sleep does not appear to be involved in transferring hippocampal memories to other brain regions. Despite exhibiting the slow-oscillation, SWRs and spindles have not been found in birds. Moreover, although birds independently evolved a brain region -the caudolateral nidopallium (NCL) -involved in performing high-order cognitive functions similar to those performed by the PFC, direct connections between the NCL and hippocampus have not been found in birds, and evidence for the transfer of information from the hippocampus to the NCL or other extra-hippocampal regions is lacking. Although based on the absence of evidence for various traits, collectively, these findings suggest that unlike mammalian SWS, avian SWS may not be involved in transferring memories from the hippocampus. Furthermore, it suggests that the slow-oscillation, the defining featur...

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