title: The effect of a daytime nap on priming and recognition tasks in preschool children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The beneficial effect of sleep on memory consolidation is widely accepted in the adult population and has recently been shown in children. However, the few available data almost exclusively refer to school-aged children. Here we explore the effect of a daytime nap on memory consolidation in a sample of preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects performed both a figures recognition task and a priming task, in order to differentiate effects on explicit and implicit memory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nursery school.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-three children (mean age: 52.6 ± 8 mo; 13 males) participated in the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  After a study phase in which children had to name 40 pictures of objects and animals, each subject either took an actigraphically monitored nap or stayed awake. At retest, children were administered both an implicit and an explicit memory task.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The implicit memory task consisted of naming 40 pictures presented at eight ascending levels of spatial filtering. The explicit memory task consisted of judging 40 pictures as old or new. The number of correct answers at the explicit recognition task was significantly higher in the nap compared to the wake condition, whereas priming effects did not differ between conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A positive role of sleep in explicit memory consolidation, similar to the one observed in the adult, was detected in our sample of preschool children. In contrast, our data suggest that implicit perceptual learning, involved in priming tasks, does not benefit from sleep.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Fiorenza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giganti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arzilli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Naples II, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toselli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Viggiano
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Naples II, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ficca
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology
keywords: explicit memory; implicit memory; preschool children; priming; sleep