At first glance, pigeons may not appear to be the brightest of birds. Pigeons are often mistaken for downright stupid pests because of their swaying heads, clumsy gait, and dull-sounding “coo” calls.not yet Recent research Nature Communications suggests that pigeons may be more sophisticated than humans often think.
The reason is simple. The study provides the first-ever evidence that pigeons, and other birds suggesting it, also have the ability to dream.
“The study of dreams has fascinated scientists since the early days of sleep research.”
To learn this, German researchers housed groups of 15 pigeons to acclimatize them around functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and infrared video cameras. In doing so, the scientists were able to closely monitor the sleeping brains of pigeons. This feat was easy for the pigeons. This is because the pigeons were accustomed to machines that were likely to put them to sleep.
Solving this problem, they monitored a number of biological functions that help us understand sleep. fMRI provided information about brain activity during sleep and the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is thought to flush toxic proteins and other waste products from the brain through the glymphatic system during sleep. Scientists have also tracked the bird’s eye movements and pupil size, which can also be used to determine the bird’s sleep state.
Janina Unglean, a researcher in the Avian Sleep Group at the Max Planck Institute for Biointelligence, is the corresponding author of the study. Ungurean emailed Salon about the team’s most important discovery. After all, the broader goal of the research was not just to learn about bird dreams. Scientists want to understand how all living things, including humans, perform the act of dreaming.
“The study of dreams has fascinated scientists since the early days of sleep research,” explained Ungurean. “However, our understanding of the brain processes behind dreaming remains limited, especially because non-human dreaming animals cannot verbally communicate their subjective experiences to researchers.”
But despite these limitations, scientists have learned that “birds, like humans, experience REM sleep, the stage of sleep associated with the most vivid dreams.” Similarly, the researchers learned that many of the same brain regions (“including visual and higher association cortices”) that are active in humans during REM sleep are also active in birds. The same is true for the amygdala in birds, which is thought to regulate emotions in the same way that humans do. They are just as active in sleeping birds as they are in sleeping humans. Finally, building on previous research showing that birds constrict their pupils during wakefulness when they experience strong emotions (such as courtship), the researchers concluded that birds “contract the same pupils during REM sleep as well.” It has been discovered that
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Because “birds rely heavily on vision… Birds may experience visual dreams in the same way humans do.”
“In summary, although our results do not provide conclusive evidence that pigeons dream, they do lay the foundation for future research aimed at addressing this intriguing question.” concludes Ungurean. “Investigating whether birds and other animals experience dreaming will open new avenues for investigating the purpose dreams serve, if any.”
When asked what kind of dreams do pigeons dream, Ungurian said, “Birds rely heavily on vision, and because most of their visual systems are active during REM sleep, they can see like humans. I might have a dream,” he replied.
This isn’t the first study to delve into the science behind non-human dreams. In 2022, Chinese researchers published a study in the journal Neuron, revealing that they had exposed sleeping animals of various species to a chemical called trimethylthiazoline. Trimethylthiazoline is strongly associated with predators. When they did this, they found that animals awoke from sleep faster during REM cycles than during non-REM cycles. Furthermore, it was found that neurons in a brain region called the medial subthalamic nucleus lower the arousal threshold during the REM sleep cycle in animals, making them more likely to become defensive once awake.
“Together, our findings suggest that the adaptive REM sleep response may protect against threat and reveal key components of the underlying neural circuitry,” the authors say. concluded at the time.
Human knowledge of birds has also made significant progress in recent years. Vinciane Despré, a Belgian philosopher of science and associate professor at the University of Liège, recently wrote a book, Living as a Bird, which synthesizes current scientific knowledge to speculate on how birds process reality. rice field.
“I don’t think time is really the same for birds as it is for us humans,” explained Despre, adding the latter. “We don’t live in the same amount of time all the time. Time seems longer when we’re having a difficult problem or illness, but it feels shorter when we’re just enjoying something.” For example, as we get older, the times we live in are not the same: when we were young, the years did not pass so quickly, but when we are over 60, the years pass quickly. That’s it.”
In contrast, birds’ perception of time is “very different,” says Despre. “Sometimes they live in the pure present, but when they sing, for example, they have to negotiate and manage their time because what is singing? It’s a matter of time management.”
At the same time, Ungurian’s research also shows that bird brains are much more similar to human brains than we might think. At the very least, this study suggests that birds, like humans, may replay integrated memories from their experiences during sleep.
“Although it has not been proven yet, it is possible that cortical regeneration may be associated with dreams, or even occur during dreaming,” Angleaan told Salon. “This suggests that birds may have equivalent requirements for memory consolidation and may employ similar mechanisms as mammals.”
