Work

A brief nap is beneficial for human route-learning: The role of navigation experience and EEG spectral power

Year: 2010

Type: preprint

Abstract: Here, we examined the effect of a daytime nap on changes in virtual maze performance across a single day. Participants either took a short nap or remained awake following training on a virtual maze task. Post-training sleep provided a clear performance benefit at later retest, but only for those participants with prior experience navigating in a three-dimensional (3D) environment. Performance improvements in experienced players were correlated with delta-rich stage 2 sleep. Complementing observations that learning-related brain activity is reiterated during post-navigation NREM sleep in rodents, the present data demonstrate that NREM sleep confers a performance advantage for spatial memory in humans.

Source: Learning & Memory

DOI: 10.1101/lm.1828310

Authors: Erin J. Wamsley, Matthew A. Tucker, Jessica D. Payne, Robert Stickgold

Institutions: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Sleep and Wakefulness Research

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Mental Health

Awards: G3549828030, G4022436119, The evolution of memories across wake and sleep, Training in Sleep, Circadian, and Respiratory Neurobiology