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Updated: Aug 22, 2025
Measuring Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation During Naps in Early Childhood
Published on: October 2, 2019
Links between Daytime Napping, Night-Time Sleep Quality and Infant Attention: An Eye-Tracking, Actigraphy and
Nabil Hasshim1,2, Jessica Bramham1, Jennifer Keating1
1School of Psychology, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland.
Insights
Infant sleep quality and daytime sleep duration impact attention development. Poorer night-time sleep (more light sleep) and less daytime sleep were linked to difficulties in visual attention tasks.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Sleep Science
Background:
- Infant sleep is crucial for cognitive development, particularly attention.
- Objective sleep measurement methods like actigraphy offer advantages over parental reports alone.
- Understanding factors influencing attention development is vital for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of infant sleep (parental report and actigraphy) and family functioning on attention development.
- To examine the relationship between objective sleep quality and visual attention.
- To explore the role of daytime sleep duration and night-time sleep patterns in attention.
Main Methods:
- Fifty infants (mean age 13.44 months) participated.
- Sleep was measured using parental report and actigraphy.
- Visual attention was assessed using an eye-tracking version of the Gap-Overlap task.
- Family functioning and cognitive development were evaluated via questionnaires and behavioral assessments.
Main Results:
- Daytime sleep duration (parental report) and proportion of light sleep (actigraphy) were associated with visual attention.
- Higher proportion of light sleep (poorer sleep quality) and less daytime sleep negatively impacted attention task performance (facilitation and disengagement).
- Family functioning showed no significant association with attention development.
Conclusions:
- Daytime sleep duration and night-time sleep quality (proportion of light sleep) are important factors in infant attention development.
- Objective measures of sleep, like actigraphy, provide valuable insights into sleep's impact on cognition.
- Further research is warranted to explore the nuanced relationship between sleep variables and attention development.
Abstract:
The current study explored the potential influence of infant sleep, measured by parental report and actigraphy, and family functioning on attention development using eye tracking. The use of actigraphy in parallel with parental report, has the advantage of measuring participant's sleep throughout the night without parental observation and the ability to objectively assess sleep quality. An eye-tracking version of the Gap-Overlap task was used to measure visual attention. Questionnaires and behavioural assessment were used to assess family function, and general cognitive development. Fifty infants (Mean age = 13.44 months, SD = 3.10) participated in the study, 23 of which had full final datasets. Results show that daytime sleep duration, as measured by parental report, and proportion of light sleep at night, as measured by actigraphy, are linked to visual attention. A higher proportion of light sleep, a marker of poorer sleep quality, and less daytime sleep were negatively linked with facilitation and disengagement on the Gap-Overlap task. Family functioning was not associated with attention. The results provide initial evidence that in addition to the amount of daytime sleep; quality of night-time sleep as measured by proportion of light sleep, is a potentially useful sleep variable which requires further focus in the study of attention development.
