Novel word learning in older adults: A role for sleep?
Open accessAbstract
Sleep is an offline period during which newly acquired semantic information is transformed into longer-lasting memories. Language acquisition, which requires new word learning and semantic integration, is preferentially benefitted by a period of sleep in children and young adults. Specific features of sleep (e.g., sleep stage characteristics) have been associated with enhanced language acquisition and generalization. However, with increasing age, even in healthy individuals, sleep quality and quantity decrease. Simultaneously, deficits in word retrieval and new word learning emerge. Yet it is unknown whether age-related alterations in language ability are linked with alterations in sleep. The goal of this review is to examine changes in language learning and sleep across the lifespan. We consider how sleep detriments that occur with aging could affect abilities to learn novel words and semantic generalization and propose hypotheses to motivate future research in this area.
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High intensity may be required for mass-practice, item-based approaches used to improve impairment-based outcomes, but spacing these adaptively, acknowledging evidence for sleep in language learning, may be the way forward.
“High intensity may well be required for the mass-practice, item-based approaches used to improve performance on impairment-based outcomes, but perhaps spacing these in an adaptive way, acknowledging the burgeoning evidence base for the role of sleep in language learning [17], is the way forward.”
From Aphasia Recovery: When, How and Who to Treat? (2018) · cites this paper as [17]
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References 87 · Cited by 39
- Authors
- Kurdziel, L. B. F., Mantua, J., & Spencer, R. M. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (US)
- Corresponding author
- Spencer, Rebecca M.C.
- Venue
- Brain and Language
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-04
- Volume
- 167
- Pages
- 106-113
- ISSN
- 0093-934X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5148724
- OpenAlex
- W2410390581
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 87
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 0.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Brain and Language (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (NIH R01 AG040133)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- novel word learning, sleep, aging, older adults, language acquisition, semantic memory, semantic generalization, word retrieval, sleep quality, sleep quantity
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aging, Female, Humans, Language Development, Learning, Male, Middle Aged, Semantics, Sleep
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