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Updated: Oct 16, 2025
Measuring Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation During Naps in Early Childhood
Published on: October 2, 2019
The Role of Sleep in Retention of New Words in Habitually and Non-Habitually Napping Children
Katherine Esterline1, Rebecca L Gómez1
1Psychology Department, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Insights
Daytime naps aid new word learning in children. As children nap less, their memory retention improves without sleep, suggesting better resistance to interference.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Developmental psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Daytime napping is known to enhance memory consolidation in children.
- Children typically cease regular napping between ages 3 and 5.
- The effect of this developmental transition on memory retention is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the transition away from regular napping affects new word learning and memory retention in young children.
- To compare memory performance in children who nap habitually versus those who nap infrequently after a learning task.
Main Methods:
- The study involved 58 children aged 3.5-4.5 years, divided into habitual (4-7 naps/week) and non-habitual (0-3 naps/week) nappers.
- Participants learned novel object-label associations.
- Memory retention was assessed after a 4-hour delay, with conditions including either sleep (napping) or wakefulness during the delay period.
- Mixed effects logistic regression was used to analyze retention performance.
Main Results:
- Non-habitual nappers showed similar retention performance regardless of napping or staying awake during the delay.
- Habitual nappers demonstrated significantly better retention of newly learned words when they napped after the learning task.
- Habitual nappers who stayed awake during the delay performed at chance level on the retention test.
Conclusions:
- Habitual napping is crucial for young children's memory retention of newly acquired vocabulary.
- As children transition to napping less frequently, their ability to retain new information across wakeful periods may improve.
- This suggests that reduced napping is associated with increased resilience to interference during memory recall.
Abstract:
Daytime napping contributes to retention of new word learning in children. Importantly, children transition out of regular napping between ages 3-5 years, and the impact of this transition on memory is unclear. Here, we examined the performance of both non-habitually napping children (nap 0-3 days per week, n = 28) and habitually napping children (nap 4-7 days per week, n = 30) on a word learning task after a delay including either sleep or wakefulness. Children ages 3.5-4.5 years old experienced a brief exposure to two novel labels and their referents during training, a scenario that replicates learning experiences children encounter every day. After a 4-h delay, children were tested on the object-label associations. Using mixed effects logistic regression, we compared retention performance. Non-habitual nappers and habitual nappers displayed a different pattern of retention such that non-habitually napping children did equally well on a test of retention regardless of whether they napped or stayed awake during the delay. In contrast, habitually napping children needed a nap after learning to retain the novel object-label associations 4 h later. As a group, habitual nappers who remained awake after learning performed no better than chance on the retention test. As children transition out of naps, they may be less susceptible to interference and are better able to retain newly learned words across a delay including wakefulness.
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