Song-like activation of syringeal and respiratory muscles during sleep in canaries

Abstract

Sleep replay activity involves the reactivation of brain structures with patterns similar to those observed during wakingbehavior. In this study, we demonstrate that adult male canaries exhibit spontaneous, song-like peripheral reactivationduring night sleep. Our findings include: (1) the presence of activity in respiratory muscles, leading to song-like air sacpressure patterns of low amplitude, (2) the simultaneous occurrence of respiratory replay events and reactivation of syrin-geal muscles, and (3) the reactivation of syringeal muscles without concurrent respiratory system activity. This song-likereactivation of peripheral motor systems enables the identification of specific motor patterns, with replay events preserv-ing individual morphological and temporal properties. The activation of peripheral motor systems in songbirds and thedifferences in activation patterns between species give unique insights into the fictive behavioral output of activation of acomplex learned motor behavior during sleep, shedding light on the neural control mechanisms and potential functions.