Abstract
Recent research has established that sleep is essential for memory consolidation in learning and academic performance of children and adults. Similar evidence in childhood is emerging. Conversely, sleep deprivation and/or sleep problems usually weaken these functions. The present study investigates the association between sleep related learning in school-aged children with Williams syndrome (N=14) compared to the typically developing children (N=14). Sleep was measured using actigraphy and parents completed the Child Sleep Health Questionnaire. Accuracy performance on a well-characterised procedural learning task- the finger tapping motor sequence task (FTT) was assessed on three sessions. Children in the typically developing group showed increased accuracy scores following a period of sleep (14% improvement) compared with wake (drop of 2%). In contrast children with Williams syndrome showed an initial improvement in accuracy on the training session, albeit slow, but their accuracy deteriorated following a period of sleep. The sleep-related decrement in performance on the procedural task may reflect sleep problems that are now well characterised in the WS group. This study demonstrated the contribution of sleep to procedural learning in typically developing children. Further studies may elucidate the reasons why similar sleep related benefits are not seen in children with Williams syndrome. Meanwhile practitioners and families should ensure that children obtain adequate sleep in order to maximise their attention readiness to learn and achieve optimum cognitive performance.
Highlights
Sleep is essential for healthy brain development
Comparison of the performance of the control typically developing (TD) group with the Williams syndrome (WS) group showed a significant difference on the task before and after sleep sessions (F (1, 26) =32.24, p = .001) whereby children in the WS group did not improve on the task following sleep
In line with previous studies (e.g., Karni et al, 1994, Walker et al, 2002), we found a significant overnight improvement in a procedural learning task in TD children following a period of sleep
Summary
Sleep is essential for healthy brain development. It represents the major state of the brain in early childhood, suggesting a functional role in neurodevelopment. Neurocognitive research in sleep-deprived adults indicates a negative impact on mood, cognitive performance, and motor function Cognitive domains such as executive attention and working memory are susceptible (Ashworth, Hill, Karmiloff-Smith and Dimitriou, 2013; Durmer and Dinges, 2005). The authors examined performance profiles using tasks such as working memory, motor speed and reaction time, vigilance, visual memory, and attention. Children adjusted their sleep by an average of 35 minutes in the sleep extension group and by 41 minutes in the sleep restriction group. The neurocognitive improvements seen after a 35 minutes extension in sleep are comparable to those gained by two years of development, showing how sensitive children are to modest alterations of their natural sleep patterns
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