title: Naps promote flexible memory retrieval in 12-month-old infants.
abstract: Flexibility in applying existing knowledge to similar cues is a corner stone of memory development in infants. Here, we examine the effect of sleep on the flexibility of memory retrieval using a deferred imitation paradigm. Forty-eight 12-month-old infants were randomly assigned to either a nap or a no-nap demonstration condition (scheduled around their natural daytime sleep schedule) or to a baseline control condition. In the demonstration conditions, infants watched an experimenter perform three target actions on a hand puppet. Immediately afterwards, infants were allowed to practice the target actions three times. In a test session 4-hr later, infants were given the opportunity to reproduce the actions with a novel hand puppet differing in color from the puppet used during the demonstration session. Only infants in the nap-condition performed significantly more target actions than infants in the baseline control condition. Furthermore, they were faster to carry out the first target action than infants in the no-nap condition. We conclude that sleep had a facilitative effect on infants' flexibility of memory retrieval.
authors.affiliation: Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany. carolin.konrad@rub.de.
authors.forename: Carolin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Konrad
authors.affiliation: Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seehagen
authors.affiliation: Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Jane S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Herbert
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: flexibility of retrieval; imitation; infancy; memory; sleep