Exploring the Effects of Napping on Mnemonic Discrimination During Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Attention, Learning, Memory

Abstract

Early childhood is a period of important change in children’s memory development. Recent work suggests children become better able to form precise memories and discriminate, using memory alone, between previously experienced stimuli and stimuli that are very similar (termed mnemonic discrimination, see Figure 1, Ngo et al., 2017; Canada et al., 2018).

However, what drives age-related improvements in this ability in childhood is still under investigation. One potential mechanism is sleep. Sleep has been shown to be critical for memory consolidation, particularly during early childhood as children transition from biphasic to monophasic sleep. For example, one study showed that children recall more on a visuospatial memory task after a nap than after a period of wake (Kurdizel et al., 2013). Yet it remains unclear whether the impact of nap would extend to children’s mnemonic discrimination. To address this gap, the current study assesses this question, utilizing a child-friendly Mnemonic Similarity Task (MST). This task requires children to distinguish between items previously seen during the experiment (targets), highly similar items (lures), and novel items (foils, Figure 2).

Central to the planned study, children’s memory precision will be tested within-subjects across two different sleep conditions: a nap condition and a wake condition. For each condition children will complete an incidental encoding phase (in which “targets” are learned) and recall phases 4 hours later (after nap/wake) and 24 hours later (in which targets, lures, and foils are presented). This will allow us to compare target recognition and mnemonic discrimination, using a lure discrimination index, to explore the degree to which an individual child can discriminate between studied items. We will test 50 children aged 3-5 years and include both habitual and non-habitual nappers. Data collection and analysis will be completed remotely via Zoom. We hypothesize that naps will be beneficial for mnemonic discrimination in both habitual and non-habitual nappers, but that negative effects of not napping will be especially apparent in habitual nappers (see Kurdizel et al., 2013).

A lure discrimination index will be calculated by measuring the difference in performance between targets and lures (correct target memory - incorrectly recognized lures). To test the hypothesis that naps will be beneficial, analyses between the nap versus awake conditions and memory performance will be conducted using a 2 Group (habitual napper, non-habitual napper), 2 Condition (nap, wake) x 3 time period (immediate, afternoon, 24-hour recall) mixed ANOVA. The hypothesized results (i.e., that naps promote memory) could shed additional light on mechanisms related to change in memory in early childhood. If non-habitual nappers show better memory retention after a period of wake, it could suggest that personal sleep habits (e.g., frequency of naps, length of naps) influence the efficiency of memory consolidation. The hypothesized benefits of napping can be applied to academic settings, especially preschools, to preserve and supplement children’s memory and learning processes.

We do not see any complications in being able to complete virtual data collection by the time of the conference since it will be conducted entirely via Zoom.

Authors

• Angela Ji, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Kelsey Leigh Canada, Wayne State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Paige Munshell, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katherine Coley, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jade Dunstan, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tracy Riggins, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author