Owner-rated hyperactivity/impulsivity is associated with sleep efficiency in family dogs: a non-invasive EEG study

Abstract

Subjective sleep disturbances are reported by humans with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, no consistent objective findings related to sleep disturbances led to the removal of sleep problems from ADHD diagnostic criteria. Dogs have been used as a model for human ADHD with questionnaires validated for this purpose. Also, their sleep physiology can be measured by non-invasive methods similarly to humans. In the current study, we recorded spontaneous sleep EEG in family dogs during a laboratory session. We analyzed the association of sleep macrostructure and deep sleep (NREM) slow-wave activity (SWA) with a validated owner-rated ADHD questionnaire, assessing inattention (IA), hyperactivity/impulsivity (H/I) and total (T) scores. Higher H/I and T were associated with lower sleep efficiency and longer time awake after initial drowsiness and NREM. IA showed no associations with sleep variables. Further, no association was found between ADHD scores and SWA. Our results are in line with human studies in which poor sleep quality reported by ADHD subjects is associated with some objective EEG macrostructural parameters. This suggests that natural variation in dogs’ H/I is useful to gain a deeper insight of ADHD neural mechanisms.

Beacon-based sleep-wake monitoring in dogs

“…Particularly, cognitive dysfunction is commonly observed in aged dogs, and this could be related to sleep and activity similar to humans [ 7 , 10 , 18 ]. Dogs with hyperactivity/impulsivity showed less sleep quality and quantity [ 5 ]. In addition, human sleep can be influenced by dogs and cats [ 8 , 15 ], and this method can apply to the research for understanding the relationship between pets and owners living together in a house.…”

Non-invasive canine electroencephalography (EEG): a systematic review

“…On a different association with sleep quality, Carreiro et al [19] investigated the relation between sleep activity and owner-rated hyperactivity and found that dogs rated as more hyperactive and impulsive demonstrated less total sleep time, a reduced percentage of REM sleep, and lower spindle density compared to dogs rated as less hyperactive and impulsive. Moreover, owner-rated hyperactivity and impulsivity were associated with increased wakefulness after sleep onset and greater sleep fragmentation.…”

“…Our review ends by underscoring the advances and advantages of EEG-based canine cognitive neuroscience and the potential for accessible canine neuroimaging to inform both fundamental sciences as well as practical applications for cognitive neuroscience, working dogs, and human-canine interactions.Keywords canine science • cognitive neuroscience • EEG Berns et al pioneered the use of fMRI in awake, non-restrained dogs in 2012 [8], and in the following year, Kujala and colleagues were the first to successfully deploy non-invasive EEG with non-sedated dogs [61]. Further developments Non-invasive canine electroencephalography (EEG): a systematic review PREPRINT included the investigation of a range of cognitive processes and their neural underpinnings such as executive functioning [24], visual [25,61], auditory [5,17], and olfactory [50] processing, social cognition [23], learning [88] and sleep [19,56]. While the field of canine fMRI has received increasing scientific attention, non-invasive canine EEG has eluded similar treatment.…”

Towards Canine Brain-Computer Interfaces

“…Sleep data is relatively easier to collect, as motion is limited, and large quantities of data can be recorded quickly. From the literature, a canine BCI would be able to achieve the following capabilities - Previous studies have found that certain power spectral density bands, specifically beta and delta, correlated with learning rates [72], and that features of spindles, such as the frequency, density, and amplitude, correlated with cognitive traits such as learning gain [73,74], memory consolidation [73], cognitive ageing [75], and owner rated hyperactivity [76]. ( 4) Make predictions on human-canine relationship dynamics based on sleep features.…”