Is Hippocampal Connectivity Related to Nap Status, Sleep Physiology, and Memory in Early Childhood?
Year: 2020
Type: preprint
Abstract: In early childhood, memory abilities and hippocampal maturation increase just as children transition out of the afternoon nap (Canada et al., 2020; Riggins, 2014). Research shows this nap transition is related to memory performance across a wake period (Kurdziel et al., 2013; Lokwandala et al., 2020). Specifically, habitual nappers demonstrate more significant memory decay when they are required to stay awake during their typical nap period compared to non-nappers. This suggests that memory consolidation is more dependent on an afternoon nap in habitual nappers (Kurdziel et al., 2013). Furthermore, research also demonstrates volumetric differences in the hippocampus based on nap status (napper vs non-napper; Allard et al., In Preparation; Riggins & Spencer, 2020). That said, the hippocampus belongs to a network of regions that shows age-related differences in intrinsic connectivity across early childhood (Geng et al., 2019). Specifically, posterior hippocampus demonstrated greater functional connectivity with IPL/SPL, bilateral IOG, left ITG, fusiform, and left IFG compared to anterior hippocampus. While anterior hippocampus demonstrated greater functional connectivity with OFG compared to posterior hippocampus. That said, no analysis has examined differences in hippocampal connectivity with these regions based on nap status. This study’s purpose is to investigate relations between nap status, memory, and hippocampal connectivity.
Authors: Tamara Lynn Allard, Tracy Riggins
Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204079331
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: