A Cross-Syndrome Comparison of Sleep-Dependent Learning on a Cognitive Procedural Task
- 1 July 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) in American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Vol. 124 (4), 339-353
- https://doi.org/10.1352/1944-7558-124.4.339
Abstract
Sleep plays a key role in the consolidation of newly acquired information and skills into long term memory. Children with Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS) frequently experience sleep problems, abnormal sleep architecture, and difficulties with learning; thus, we predicted that children from these clinical populations would demonstrate impairments in sleep-dependent memory consolidation relative to children with typical development (TD) on a cognitive procedural task: The Tower of Hanoi. Children with DS (n = 17), WS (n = 22) and TD (n = 34) completed the Tower of Hanoi task. They were trained on the task either in the morning or evening, then completed it again following counterbalanced retention intervals of daytime wake and night time sleep. Children with TD and with WS benefitted from sleep for enhanced memory consolidation and improved their performance on the task by reducing the number of moves taken to completion, and by making fewer rule violations. We did not find any large effects of sleep on learning in children with DS, suggesting that these children are not only delayed, but atypical in their learning strategies. Importantly, our findings have implications for educational strategies for all children, specifically considering circadian influences on new learning and the role of children's night time sleep as an aid to learning.Keywords
This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:
- Impaired Sleep-Related Learning in Children with Williams SyndromePediatrics Research International Journal, 2013
- Sleep disturbances in children with multiple disabilitiesSleep Medicine Reviews, 2012
- Sleep in children with Williams SyndromeSleep Medicine, 2011
- Atypical sleep architecture and altered EEG spectra in Williams syndromeJournal of Intellectual Disability Research, 2010
- Learning and Consolidation of Novel Spoken WordsJournal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2009
- A time to think: Circadian rhythms in human cognitionCognitive Neuropsychology, 2007
- Posttraining increases in REM sleep intensity implicate REM sleep in memory processing and provide a biological marker of learning potentialLearning & Memory, 2004
- Short-term memory in Down syndrome: Applying the working memory modelDown Syndrome Research and Practice, 2001
- Sleep states and memory processesBehavioural Brain Research, 1995
- COGNITIVE ABILITIES AND BEHAVIOURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN WITH IDIOPATHIC INFANTILE HYPERCALCAEMIAJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1987