title: Sleep disorder in childhood impairs declarative but not nondeclarative forms of learning.
abstract: A large amount of studies have investigated the association between sleep and memory systems. However, remarkably little is known of the effect of sleep disorders on declarative and nondeclarative memory for children. In the present study we examined the effects of sleep disorders on different aspects of memory functions by testing children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), which is characterized by disrupted sleep patterns. We used "The War of the Ghosts" test to measure declarative memory and the Alternating Serial Reaction Time (ASRT) task. This enabled us to measure two aspects of nondeclarative memory--general skill learning and sequence-specific learning--separately. Ten children with SDB and 10 healthy controls participated in this study. Our data showed dissociation between declarative and nondeclarative memory in children with SDB. They showed impaired declarative memory, while the sequence-specific and general skill learning was similar to that of healthy controls, in spite of sleep disruption. Our findings suggest that sleep-disordered breathing affects declarative and nondeclarative memory differently in children. Moreover, these findings imply that the disrupted sleep pattern influences the more attention-demanding and cortical structure-guided explicit processes, while the less attention-demanding implicit processes mediated by subcortical structures are preserved.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Psychology, University of Szeged , Szeged , Hungary.
authors.forename: Eszter
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Csábi
authors.forename: Pálma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Benedek
authors.forename: Karolina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Janacsek
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Katona
authors.forename: Dezso
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nemeth
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors