Female-Specific Effects on Age-Related Spatial Learning Decline in Songbirds

Spatial cognitive decline is a known hallmark for age-related deterioration in learning and memory, as neurobiological changes occur in the hippocampus with advancing age. Sexually dimorphic spatial abilities have also been consistently demonstrated in humans and other mammalian studies. Despite their extended lifespan and adaptations to aging, little is known about avian age-related cognition and physiology. In this experiment, we used zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to investigate the effects of aging and sex on spatial cognition. We found a sex difference favoring spatial cognitive advantage in adult male zebra finches such that males outperformed females in learning to acquire correct food locations in a 4-arm maze. This phenomenon, however, was absent in young subjects. Moreover, only old female but not male zebra finches exhibited the expected age-related decline in learning spatial task, suggesting a potential underlying benefit of male aging and spatial ability. In addition to proposing parallels between the avian and mammalian literature on spatial cognition, this study is the first to concurrently examine both sex- and age-dependent influence on avian spatial learning and memory