While They Snooze Neurons in zebra finches, like the one shown sleeping here, fire in similar patterns while they sing and while they sleep, according to a new study. But I think dreaming is a close description of what happens to the animal. Margoliash and the lead author, Amish Dave, a medical student at the University of Illinois, found that the brain cells of zebra finches fire in very similar patterns while the birds are sleeping and while they are singing.
Songs are critical for birds in attracting mates and marking territory.
Sleeping to Learn Recent experiments in humans and rats have demonstrated a strong correlation between learning and sleeping. One study found that groups of neurons in rats fire the same patterns while the rats negotiate a maze wide-awake and then while they slumber. In another study, also published in Science , people learned how to play the computer game Tetris. Later, when the subjects went to sleep, they were awakened throughout the night and asked to reveal their dreams. Nearly all reported they were dreaming about the computer game.