The unique contributions of day and night sleep to infant motor problem solving

Melissa N. Horger; Aaron DeMasi; Angelina M. Allia; Anat Scher; Sarah E. Berger

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105536

The unique contributions of day and night sleep to infant motor problem solving

Melissa N. Horger, Aaron DeMasi, Angelina M. Allia, Anat Scher, Sarah E. Berger

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The current study sought to tease apart the unique contributions of napping and nighttime sleep to infant learning, specifically in the context of motor problem solving. We challenged 54 walking infants to solve a novel locomotor problem at three time points—training, test, and follow-up the next morning. One group of infants napped during the delay between training and test. Another group did not sleep during the delay. A third group received the test immediately after training with no delay. Only the Nap group's strategy choices continued to improve through the follow-up session, suggesting that daytime sleep has an active role in strengthening otherwise fragile memory. Although group did not affect strategy maintenance, walk experience did, suggesting that task difficulty may shape the impact of sleep on learning. Thus, day sleep and night sleep make independent contributions to the consolidation of motor problem-solving strategies during infancy.

Original language	English
Article number	105536
Journal	Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Volume	226
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105536
State	Published - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Science (1551703), the Professional Staff Congress–City University of New York (PSC-CUNY; 67509-00 45), and the College of Staten Island Office of Technology to S.E.B; the Binational Science Foundation (BSF-2015606) to A.S.; and a Revson Undergraduate Research Scholarship to Dana Friedman. Portions of this research were presented at the XXI Biennial Meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies, Philadelphia, July 2018; the Joint International Workshop for Understanding and Promoting Change From Early to Complex Skills in Typical and Atypical Development: A Cross-Population Approach, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, October 2018; the Conference on Cognition Research of the Israeli Society for Cognitive Psychology, Akko, Israel, February 2019; the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, San Antonio, TX, June 2019; the 3rd World Conference on Movement and Cognition, Tel Aviv, Israel, July 2019; the International Congress of Infant Studies (virtual), July 2020; and the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (virtual), April 2021. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Child Development Lab, especially Pascale Saad, Dana Friedman, and Sapir Elimaliah; the research assistants in the Sleep and Development Lab, Sandra Zukerman, Tamar Simon, Maayan Peled, Hanit Ohana, Rotem Ad-Epztein, Alona Einav, and Larisa Ginat; and Rachel Payne of the Brooklyn Public Library. We thank the parents and infants who participated.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Science (1551703), the Professional Staff Congress–City University of New York (PSC-CUNY; 67509-00 45), and the College of Staten Island Office of Technology to S.E.B; the Binational Science Foundation (BSF-2015606) to A.S.; and a Revson Undergraduate Research Scholarship to Dana Friedman. Portions of this research were presented at the XXI Biennial Meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies, Philadelphia, July 2018; the Joint International Workshop for Understanding and Promoting Change From Early to Complex Skills in Typical and Atypical Development: A Cross-Population Approach, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, October 2018; the Conference on Cognition Research of the Israeli Society for Cognitive Psychology, Akko, Israel, February 2019; the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, San Antonio, TX, June 2019; the 3rd World Conference on Movement and Cognition, Tel Aviv, Israel, July 2019; the International Congress of Infant Studies (virtual), July 2020; and the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (virtual), April 2021. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Child Development Lab, especially Pascale Saad, Dana Friedman, and Sapir Elimaliah; the research assistants in the Sleep and Development Lab, Sandra Zukerman, Tamar Simon, Maayan Peled, Hanit Ohana, Rotem Ad-Epztein, Alona Einav, and Larisa Ginat; and Rachel Payne of the Brooklyn Public Library. We thank the parents and infants who participated. The video data are stored on a permanent third-party archive (nyu.databrary.org) with restricted access; request for the data or materials can be sent via e-mail to S.E.B. (sarah.berger@csi.cuny.edu). Scher, A. Zukerman, S. & Berger, S. E. (2016). An examination of the effects of timing and characteristics of sleep on infant learning. Databrary. Retrieved from https://nyu.databrary.org/volume/299. S.E.B. and A.S. developed the study concept. Data collection was performed by M.N.H. A.D. A.M.A. and S.E.B. A.D. performed the data analysis. M.N.H. A.D. A.M.A. and S.E.B. drafted the manuscript. A.S. provided revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

Infant
Learning
Motor
Nap
Problem solving
Sleep

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105536

Cite this

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title = "The unique contributions of day and night sleep to infant motor problem solving",

abstract = "The current study sought to tease apart the unique contributions of napping and nighttime sleep to infant learning, specifically in the context of motor problem solving. We challenged 54 walking infants to solve a novel locomotor problem at three time points—training, test, and follow-up the next morning. One group of infants napped during the delay between training and test. Another group did not sleep during the delay. A third group received the test immediately after training with no delay. Only the Nap group's strategy choices continued to improve through the follow-up session, suggesting that daytime sleep has an active role in strengthening otherwise fragile memory. Although group did not affect strategy maintenance, walk experience did, suggesting that task difficulty may shape the impact of sleep on learning. Thus, day sleep and night sleep make independent contributions to the consolidation of motor problem-solving strategies during infancy.",

keywords = "Infant, Learning, Motor, Nap, Problem solving, Sleep",

author = "Horger, {Melissa N.} and Aaron DeMasi and Allia, {Angelina M.} and Anat Scher and Berger, {Sarah E.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Science (1551703), the Professional Staff Congress–City University of New York (PSC-CUNY; 67509-00 45), and the College of Staten Island Office of Technology to S.E.B; the Binational Science Foundation (BSF-2015606) to A.S.; and a Revson Undergraduate Research Scholarship to Dana Friedman. Portions of this research were presented at the XXI Biennial Meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies, Philadelphia, July 2018; the Joint International Workshop for Understanding and Promoting Change From Early to Complex Skills in Typical and Atypical Development: A Cross-Population Approach, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, October 2018; the Conference on Cognition Research of the Israeli Society for Cognitive Psychology, Akko, Israel, February 2019; the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, San Antonio, TX, June 2019; the 3rd World Conference on Movement and Cognition, Tel Aviv, Israel, July 2019; the International Congress of Infant Studies (virtual), July 2020; and the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (virtual), April 2021. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Child Development Lab, especially Pascale Saad, Dana Friedman, and Sapir Elimaliah; the research assistants in the Sleep and Development Lab, Sandra Zukerman, Tamar Simon, Maayan Peled, Hanit Ohana, Rotem Ad-Epztein, Alona Einav, and Larisa Ginat; and Rachel Payne of the Brooklyn Public Library. We thank the parents and infants who participated. Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Science (1551703), the Professional Staff Congress–City University of New York (PSC-CUNY; 67509-00 45), and the College of Staten Island Office of Technology to S.E.B; the Binational Science Foundation (BSF-2015606) to A.S.; and a Revson Undergraduate Research Scholarship to Dana Friedman. Portions of this research were presented at the XXI Biennial Meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies, Philadelphia, July 2018; the Joint International Workshop for Understanding and Promoting Change From Early to Complex Skills in Typical and Atypical Development: A Cross-Population Approach, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, October 2018; the Conference on Cognition Research of the Israeli Society for Cognitive Psychology, Akko, Israel, February 2019; the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, San Antonio, TX, June 2019; the 3rd World Conference on Movement and Cognition, Tel Aviv, Israel, July 2019; the International Congress of Infant Studies (virtual), July 2020; and the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (virtual), April 2021. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Child Development Lab, especially Pascale Saad, Dana Friedman, and Sapir Elimaliah; the research assistants in the Sleep and Development Lab, Sandra Zukerman, Tamar Simon, Maayan Peled, Hanit Ohana, Rotem Ad-Epztein, Alona Einav, and Larisa Ginat; and Rachel Payne of the Brooklyn Public Library. We thank the parents and infants who participated. The video data are stored on a permanent third-party archive (nyu.databrary.org) with restricted access; request for the data or materials can be sent via e-mail to S.E.B. (sarah.berger@csi.cuny.edu). Scher, A. Zukerman, S. & Berger, S. E. (2016). An examination of the effects of timing and characteristics of sleep on infant learning. Databrary. Retrieved from https://nyu.databrary.org/volume/299. S.E.B. and A.S. developed the study concept. Data collection was performed by M.N.H. A.D. A.M.A. and S.E.B. A.D. performed the data analysis. M.N.H. A.D. A.M.A. and S.E.B. drafted the manuscript. A.S. provided revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2023",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105536",

language = "English",

volume = "226",

journal = "Journal of Experimental Child Psychology",

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AU - Horger, Melissa N.

AU - DeMasi, Aaron

AU - Allia, Angelina M.

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AU - Berger, Sarah E.

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The unique contributions of day and night sleep to infant motor problem solving

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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