Poster #1 - Associations among Night-Before Sleep, Task Timing, and Self-Regulation Task Performance in Toddlerhood

• In Event: Poster Session 09

Abstract

Children’s performance on self-regulation (SR) tasks could be a function previous sleep. Sleep duration, regularity, and efficiency may influence SR performance on tasks involving attentional bias, working memory, and attention (Cremone et al., 2017; Konen et al., 2015; Sadeh et al., 2002; Vriend et al., 2013). Sleep effects upon SR performance might depend on previous sleep and how far into the day SR is measured. The present study considered SR performance as related to indexes of the previous night’s sleep and the timing of the SR procedures.
We assessed toddlers at 30 (n = 144), 36 (n = 101), and 42 (n = 97) months of age (53.8% male; 86.7% European American). Toddlers wore actigraph watches. We extracted indexes of sleep timing, activity, and total nighttime sleep duration from the night before laboratory visits. Lab visit times at each assessment were analyzed via raw time of visit (continuous) and a categorical time index (Morning [7 a.m.–11:59 p.m.]; Midday [12 p.m.–4:59 p.m.]; or Evening [5 p.m.–8 p.m.]). During lab visits, toddlers completed SR tasks, including a “cool” task, Fruit Stroop, which required inhibiting a dominant response, and a “hot” task Gift Delay (Kochanska et al., 2000).
Night-before sleep was not correlated with next-day SR for the Gift Delay task except at 30 months or for the Fruit Stroop task except at 36 months. At 30 months, longer sleep durations the night before lab visits were associated with lower Gift Delay scores, indicating lower SR (r = -.18, p = .05). At 36 months, all three actigraphic night-before sleep indicators were associated with next-day Fruit Stroop performance in expected directions (see Table 1).
The continuous index of time of lab visits was not associated with Fruit Stroop or Gift Delay tasks scores at any time point. However, children with morning lab visits demonstrated lower Fruit Stroop scores compared to midday or evening visits (r = -.15 p = .04), while children with midday lab visits showed higher Fruit Stroop scores compared to morning or evening visits at 30 months (r = .16 p = .03). At 36 months, children with an evening lab visit showed lower Gift Delay scores, suggesting lower SR (r = -.18, p = .03).
Overall, multiple aspects of night-before sleep were associated with SR performance, but mainly for one SR task (Fruit Stroop) particularly at 36 months of age. Interestingly, longer sleep was associated with shorter latencies on Gift Delay. Links between sleep and SR performance may be stronger at that particular age because the task has the most meaningful variance at that age. On average, children’s SR performance improves from 30 to 42 months. Otherwise, night-before sleep as well as time of day for lab visits were not clearly linked to SR performance. In the future, research should test additional “cold” and “hot” tasks that may be influenced by sleep deprivation, more systemically measure timing of lab visits, and assess other factors that may impact SR performance (napping or time since waking).

Authors

• Reagan S. Breitenstein, Appalachian State University
  Presenting Author

• John E Bates, Indiana University - Bloomington