Daytime Napping: Effects on Relational Memory
Item
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Title
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Daytime Napping: Effects on Relational Memory
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:6093b00d6fdd:10905
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identifier
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11145
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Creator
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Lau, Hiuyan,
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Contributor
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William Fishbein
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Date
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2011
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Cognitive psychology | Neurosciences | memory | napping | relational memory | sleep
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Abstract
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A plethora of theoretical models and empirical data suggest that sleep strengthens various types of memory. However, the role of sleep in a fundamental feature of memory, relational memory---the flexible representation of items not directly learned prior to sleep---is less clear. At the same time, the effect of daytime naps---relatively brief periods of diurnal sleep---on memory is not well explored. In the present research, a series of three studies were conducted to investigate the effect of daytime napping on three different forms of relational memory: (1) inferential associations of separately learned items, (2) the abstraction of general concepts, and (3) relational memory built on shared contextual elements. Results from all three studies indicate that daytime napping facilitates relational memory. In addition, Study II demonstrates that the effect of daytime napping on relational memory is not dependent on whether the nap immediately follows learning or occurs after a brief (approximately two hours) delay. However, the significant difference in task performance between subjects with and without a nap is not sustained after one week, as shown in Study III. Consistent with the majority of existing literature, slow wave sleep, among all sleep stages, appears to be the strongest contributor to relational memory. Yet it alone cannot fully explain the effect of sleep on relational memory, suggesting that mechanisms independent of sleep stages may be involved. Overall, the results from the present research imply an active role for sleep in multiple memory processes that are not limited to the mere strengthening of memories, but also the binding and reorganizing of separately learned memory traces for flexible use at a later time.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
