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Link to original content: http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39069816/
Experimental playback of urban noise does not affect cognitive performance in captive Australian magpies - PubMed Skip to main page content
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. 2024 Aug 15;13(8):bio060535.
doi: 10.1242/bio.060535. Epub 2024 Aug 14.

Experimental playback of urban noise does not affect cognitive performance in captive Australian magpies

Farley Connelly  1   2   3 , Robin D Johnsson  2   4 , Raoul A Mulder  1 , Michelle L Hall  1   5   6 , John A Lesku  2   7
Affiliations

Experimental playback of urban noise does not affect cognitive performance in captive Australian magpies

Farley Connelly et al. Biol Open. .

Abstract

Exposure of wildlife to anthropogenic noise is associated with disruptive effects. Research on this topic has focused on behavioural and physiological responses of animals to noise, with little work investigating links to cognitive function. Neurological processes that maintain cognitive performance can be impacted by stress and sleep disturbances. While sleep loss impairs cognitive performance in Australian magpies, it is unclear whether urban noise, which disrupts sleep, can impact cognition as well. To fill this gap, we explored how environmentally relevant urban noise affected the performance of wild-caught, city-living Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica) on a cognitive task battery including associative and reversal learning, inhibitory control, and spatial memory. Birds were housed and tested in a laboratory environment; sample sizes varied across tasks (n=7-9 birds). Tests were conducted over 4 weeks, during which all magpies were exposed to both an urban noise playback and a quiet control. Birds were presented with the entire test battery twice: following exposure to, and in the absence of, an anthropogenic noise playback; however, tests were always performed without noise (playback muted during testing). Magpies performed similarly in both treatments on all four tasks. We also found that prior experience with the associative learning task had a strong effect on performance, with birds performing better on their second round of trials. Like previous findings on Australian magpies tested on the same tasks in the wild under noisy conditions, we could not find any disruptive effects on cognitive performance in a controlled experimental laboratory setting.

Keywords: Anthropogenic noise; Behavioural flexibility; Birds; Inhibitory control; Learning; Noise pollution; Reversal learning; Spatial learning.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Effect of urban noise on cognitive performance. The number of trials required to solve each task: colour association, reversal learning, inhibitory control, and spatial memory. Scores are grouped by treatment (control: grey; noise: yellow) and test order (first or second).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
All test apparatuses used in the cognitive test battery including training, associative and reversal learning (purple and blue), spatial memory, and all inhibitory tasks: cylinder detour task, cylinder control task, wall detour task, and wall control task.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Experimental design and testing regime for both the control and noise treatment. Anthropogenic noise playback for the treatment began 48-h prior to the start of cognitive testing. Once testing began, noise playback was stopped for 3-h each day (0830–1130) to allow for relative quiet during testing.
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