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Temperament moderates the association between sleep duration and cognitive performance in children

Marije C M Vermeulen1, Rebecca G Astill2, Jeroen S Benjamins3

  • 1Department of Sleep and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Society for Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Studies, Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|January 14, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Children with introverted or negative temperaments who sleep longer show poorer sustained attention and working memory. Shorter sleep benefits these children

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Sleep Science
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

  • Sufficient sleep is crucial for cognitive function.
  • Individual differences in children's response to sleep restriction are understudied.
  • Temperament may influence how sleep duration affects cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine if temperament moderates the relationship between sleep duration and cognitive performance in children.
  • Investigate effects on sustained attention, inhibition, and working memory.

Main Methods:

  • 123 children (9-11 years) participated.
  • Sleep duration measured via parental diaries.
  • Temperament (extraversion, negative affectivity) assessed via self-report.
  • Cognitive functions assessed using computerized tasks (PVT, Digit Span).

Main Results:

  • Longer sleeping introverted children exhibited poorer sustained attention and working memory.
  • Children with high negative affectivity also showed impaired cognitive performance with longer sleep durations.
  • Conversely, shorter sleep appeared beneficial for introverted and negatively affective children.

Conclusions:

  • Temperament traits like introversion and negative affectivity significantly moderate the impact of sleep duration on cognitive functions in children.
  • Findings suggest personalized sleep recommendations may be necessary based on individual temperament.

Keywords:
AttentionInhibitionPreadolescentsSleep durationTemperamentWorking memory

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