Sleep as a window into early neural development: shifts in sleep-dependent learning effects across early childhood
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Sleep is an important physiological state for children and adults to consolidate and generalize new learning. In this article, we review research on sleep-dependent memory consolidation and generalization in infants and preschool children, and place the findings in the context of the development of the neural systems underlying memory (the hippocampus and its connections to the cortex). Based on the extended trajectory of hippocampal development, transitions in the nature of sleep-dependent learning are expected. The studies we review show that the nature of sleep-dependent learning changes across early childhood, with sleep facilitating generalization in infants but enhancing precise memory in children 18–24 months and older. Looking ahead, studies on sleep-dependent learning in infants and young children must consider these transitions in early brain development.
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Some findings suggest that sleep in infancy particularly supports the formation of abstracted and generalized representations.
“with some findings suggesting that sleep in infancy particularly supports the formation of abstracted and generalized representations.268”
From Sleep—A brain-state serving systems memory consolidation (2023) · cites this paper as [268]
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Sleep—A brain-state serving systems memory consolidation
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- Authors
- Gómez, R. L., & Edgin, J. O.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gómez, Rebecca L
- Venue
- Child Development Perspectives
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-08-07
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 183-189
- ISSN
- 1750-8592 (ISSN-L)
- 1750-8606
- PMC
- PMC4636128
- OpenAlex
- W2151855532
- Semantic Scholar
- 65d337e371dce6c0fd4c6e65213ca6ac65cff467
- Cited by
- 93
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 5.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Child Development Perspectives (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (BCS-1052887)
- National Institutes of Health (R03HD073417, R01HD07434601A1)
- Lumind Research Down Syndrome Foundation
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Fondation Jérôme Lejeune
- Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- sleep-dependent learning, sleep-dependent memory consolidation, memory generalization, hippocampal development, early childhood, infants, preschool children, neural development
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