3-188 - Sleep, Memory and the Brain During Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Sleep is important for brain plasticity. In adults, sleep promotes memory consolidation, the off-line processing of memories that makes them stronger and less vulnerable to interference. Sleep-dependent memory consolidation is thought to reflect hippocampal-neocortical transfer of memories. However, this has yet to be shown early in life, a period during which both memory and the hippocampal-cortical network supporting it undergo significant change.

This symposium attempts to address this gap by bringing together researchers who examine sleep, memory and the brain during infancy and early childhood. The to-be-presented studies are significant as they utilize cutting-edge tools of cognitive neuroscience and sleep physiology within a developmental framework to investigate a fundamental cognitive skill: memory.

The first talk will present data from both human and rodent infants showing how active sleep promotes functional connectivity among cortical and subcortical sensorimotor structures in the brain. The second talk will present data from preschool children and suggests that, consistent with findings in adults, naps allow for the replay of memories in the hippocampus and co-activation in the cortex, which supports the recovery of weak memories and long-term memory stabilization. The third talk will present some of the first-ever fMRI data from toddlers and shows that hippocampal activation during natural sleep is related to memory for recently-learned material. Finally, the last talk will present data from preschool children suggesting that the transition out of napping reflects maturation of brain regions related to memory and, may not only explain age-related improvements in memory, but individual differences as well.

Sub Unit

• Health, Growth, Injury

Chairs

• Tracy Riggins, University of Maryland

• Rebecca M. C. Spencer, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Individual Presentations

• Active Sleep Promotes Functional Connectivity Among Cortical and Subcortical Sensorimotor Structures in the Infant Brain - Presenting Author: Mark Blumberg, University of Iowa

• Sleep-dependent Enhancements of Memories in Early Childhood - Presenting Author: Rebecca M. C. Spencer, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Remembering Words During Sleep: Behavioral and Neural Indices - Presenting Author: Elliott Gray Johnson, University of California, Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Ethan Fox, University of California, Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Lindsey Mooney, University of California, Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Simona Ghetti, University of California, Davis

• To Nap or Not: Relations Between Napping, Brain Development, and Memory in Preschool Children - Presenting Author: Tracy Riggins, University of Maryland; Non-Presenting Author: Rebecca M. C. Spencer, University of Massachusetts Amherst