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Access Type

Open Access Thesis

Document Type

thesis

Degree Program

Psychology

Degree Type

Master of Science (M.S.)

Year Degree Awarded

2021

Month Degree Awarded

February

Abstract

Naps have been shown to benefit declarative memories in early childhood. This benefit has been associated with sleep spindles during the nap. However, whether young children’s naps and their accompanying physiology benefit other forms of declarative learning is unknown. Using a novel storybook task, we found performance was better following a nap compared to performance following an equivalent interval spent awake. Moreover, performance was better the following day if a nap followed learning. Further, change in post-nap performance was positively associated to the amount of time spent in slow wave sleep. This suggests that slow wave sleep in naps may support episodic memory consolidation in early childhood. Taken in conjunction with prior work, these results suggest that multiple features of brain physiology during naps may contribute to declarative memory processing in early childhood.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/20272468

First Advisor

Rebecca M.C. Spencer

Second Advisor

Jennifer McDermott

Third Advisor

David Arnold

Fourth Advisor

Elizabeth Harvey

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