title: The role of sleep timing in children's observational learning.
abstract: Acquisition of information can be facilitated through different learning strategies, classically associated with either declarative or procedural memory modalities. The consolidation of the acquired information has been positively associated with sleep. In addition, subsequent performance was better when acquisition was quickly followed by sleep, rather than daytime wakefulness. Prior studies with adults have indicated the viability of the alternative learning strategy of observational learning for motor skill acquisition, as well as the importance of sleep and sleep timing. However, relatively little research has been dedicated to studying the importance of sleep for the consolidation of procedural memory in children. Therefore, this study investigated whether children could encode procedural information through observational learning, and whether sleep timing could affect subsequent consolidation and performance. School-aged children aged 9-12years (N=86, 43% male, Mage=10.64years, SD=.85) were trained on a procedural fingertapping task through observation, either in the morning or evening; creating immediate wake and immediate sleep groups, respectively. Performance was evaluated the subsequent evening or morning on either a congruent or incongruent task version. Observation and task execution was conducted using an online interface, allowing for remote participation. Performance of the immediate wake group was lower for a congruent version, expressed by a higher error rate, opposed to an incongruent version; an effect not observed in the immediate sleep group. This finding showed that observational learning did not improve performance in children. Yet, immediate sleep prevented performance reduction on the previously observed task. These results support a benefit of sleep in observational learning in children, but in a way different from that seen in adults, where sleep enhanced performance after learning by observation.
authors: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Dept. Sleep, Emotion, and Cognition, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: frankvanschalkwijk@gmail.com.
authors: Frank J
authors: FJ
authors: van Schalkwijk
authors: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Dept. Sleep, Emotion, and Cognition, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Jeroen S
authors: JS
authors: Benjamins
authors: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Dept. Sleep, Emotion, and Cognition, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Filippo
authors: F
authors: Migliorati
authors: Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Jacqueline A
authors: JA
authors: de Nooijer
authors: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Dept. Sleep, Emotion, and Cognition, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Dept. Medical Psychology, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Dept. Integrative Neurophysiology, VU University, Neuroscience Campus, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Eus J W
authors: EJ
authors: van Someren
authors: Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Tamara
authors: T
authors: van Gog
authors: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Dept. Sleep, Emotion, and Cognition, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Dept. Anatomy and Neurosciences, VU University Medical Centre, PO box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Ysbrand D
authors: YD
authors: van der Werf
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017286:Polysomnography; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Learning by observation; Memory consolidation; Online testing; School-aged children; Sleep