The effect of age on visuo-spatial short-term memory in family dogs

Piotti, Patrizia; Szabó, Dóra; Wallis, Lisa J.; Bognár, Zsófia; Stiegmann, Bianka Stiegmann; Egerer, Anna; Marty, Pauline; Kubinyi, Enikő

doi:10.21071/pbs.v0i4.10130

Cited by 19 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The subjects were a sub-set of a larger data-set obtained from a longitudinal study, consisting of an array of cognitive tests (cognitive battery) used to study the effects of age 23,47 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Short-term memory task. For the detailed protocol please see 23 . Briefly, five equally shaped, open containers were positioned in equal distance from each other in a semi-circular arrangement, resulting in each container being two meters away from the starting position of the dog (Fig.…”

Section: Spindle Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A dog witnessed the baiting of one of the containers with a treat before being walked out of the room for 30 seconds. Subsequently the dog was returned to the starting position and was let free to find the baited container (see Piotti et al for more details 23 ). The task was repeated five times and each container was baited once in a random order.…”

Section: Spindle Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The measured variables were number of initially correct responses and number of wrong choices (since dogs had the possibility to visit any number of containers until they found the right location). However, in accordance with the conclusion of the original study 23 we only use the number of initially correct choices in below analyses.…”

Section: Spindle Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sample from which the present selection of dogs was taken (based on the availability of EEG data) was demonstrated before to display a variability in cognitive performance 23,47 . We hypothesized that occurrence, measured as density (spindles/minute), and/or amplitude would show a positive association with performance on the two tasks, while we expected an inverse relationship with spindle frequency, as it rises with age in humans 29,33,48 and dogs 11 .…”

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Possible association between spindle frequency and reversal-learning in aged family dogs

Iotchev

Szabó

Kis

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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In both humans and dogs sleep spindle occurrence between acquisition and recall of a specific memory correlate with learning performance. However, it is not known whether sleep spindle characteristics are also linked to performance beyond the span of a day, except in regard to general mental ability in humans. Such a relationship is likely, as both memory and spindle expression decline with age in both species (in dogs specifically the density and amplitude of slow spindles). We investigated if spindle amplitude, density (spindles/minute) and/or frequency (waves/second) correlate with performance on a short-term memory and a reversal-learning task in old dogs (> 7 years), when measurements of behavior and eeG were on average a month apart. Higher frequencies of fast (≥ 13 Hz) spindles on the frontal and central midline electrodes, and of slow spindles (≤ 13 Hz) on the central midline electrode were linked to worse performance on a reversal-learning task. The present findings suggest a role for spindle frequency as a biomarker of cognitive aging across species: changes in spindle frequency are associated with dementia risk and onset in humans and declining learning performance in the dog.Sleep spindles are brief trains of rhythmic activity, at least half a second in duration 1 and maximally 6 seconds long 2 , which appear in the EEG signal of humans 3,4 and other mammals 5 during non-REM sleep, in particular stage 2 of non-REM sleep in humans. They are commonly distinguished in a slow (predominantly frontal, ≤ 13 Hz) and fast (≥ 13 Hz, predominantly central and posterior) subtype 6 .One promising model animal in comparative sleep spindle research is the dog (Canis familiaris). A shared anthropogenic environment and evolutionary adaptation to its dynamics 7 characterize dogs as an animal model for human conditions in general 8 , and they have specifically been argued a favorable model in comparative neuroscience as well 9 . Moreover, there is recent evidence 10,11 that, in dogs, transients oscillating in the 9-16 Hz frequency range, corresponding to the broad definition of the sigma band or spindling frequency in humans 12,13 , are analogous to human sleep spindles (See Table 1 for an overview of these analogies and the associated literature).As a note of caution, regarding spindle-cognition associations in general, detection methods for sleep spindles tend to correlate poorly with each other 14,15 which is challenging to the comparability between studies. In addition, sleep spindles also appear to display a link to memory consolidation and learning only under specific circumstances. The distance of the to-be-learned material to prior knowledge 16,17 , the exact stage of non-REM sleep in which spindles are measured 18 and the timing relative to cortical up-states and ripples 17-19 all seem to have an influence. In light of this it is not surprising that associations between sleep spindles and learning are not always replicated 20 . Considering the controversy about the comparability of different spindle detection m...

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“…The subjects were a sub-set of a larger data-set obtained from a longitudinal study, consisting of an array of cognitive tests (cognitive battery) used to study the effects of age 23,47 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spindle Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spindle Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spindle Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Possible association between spindle frequency and reversal-learning in aged family dogs

Iotchev

Szabó

Kis

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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Age‐related cognitive impairments in domestic cats naturally infected with feline immunodeficiency virus

Azadian

Gunn-Moore

2022

Veterinary Record

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Background Age‐related dementia has been documented in domestic cats; however, its interaction with naturally occurring feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection has been investigated minimally. Methods Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and problem‐solving (PS) ability were evaluated in FIV‐infected (n = 37) and control cats (n = 39) using two cognitive tasks tested serially, which assessed the ability of cats to remember the location of a baited container after a set delay, then evaluated the capability of the cats to manipulate the container to obtain the food within a time limit. Cats were categorized using 7 years of age as a cut‐off to determine age‐related differences. The relationship between cognitive performance and FIV viral load was investigated using real‐time PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values. Results Age significantly affected VSWM and PS ability. Younger cats had better VSWM performance and PS ability compared to older cats with the same FIV status. There was no difference between younger FIV‐positive and negative cats in either part of the task. While older FIV‐positive cats had significantly worse VSWM than older FIV‐negative cats, no differences were found in PS ability. Additionally, Ct values predicted VSWM but not PS ability. Conclusion Age‐related cognitive impairments and FIV infection appear synergetic, causing greater cognitive deficits in older FIV‐infected cats.

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