The impact of prior knowledge on sleep and memory in children: behavior and neuronal correlates

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According to the system consolidation theory, the consolidation of new information requires a gradual shift of memory representations from hippocampal to neocortical sites (e.g. to the medioprefrontal cortex; mPFC) which typically occurs within weeks to months. The presence of an associative cortical network, into which new information can be integrated, highly speeds up this process. Sleep, specifically slow wave sleep, supports memory consolidation, which coincides with a local up-regulation of slow wave activity (SWA) during post-learning sleep in the same cortical regions that were activated during learning. Compared to adults, children possess less elaborate cortical associative networks of previous knowledge but their sleep contains greater portions of slow wave activity with peak levels shortly before puberty. The planned project focuses on the effects of prior knowledge on memory formation and sleep in 10-12 year old children. Specifically, the planned studies will clarify whether prior knowledge affects the encoding, the regulation of local SWA during post-learning sleep and retention performance after sleep in this age-group. I hypothesize that activation in the mPFC is enhanced during encoding when the acquired information is linked to prior knowledge. Furthermore, during post-learning sleep, SWA in these mPFC regions should be enhanced with increased levels of SWA coinciding with better retention performance. Taking into account the role of prior knowledge, the results will increase our understanding of the basic mechanisms of memory consolidation in childhood. Unraveling the mechanisms of learning and memory formation in childhood may help to devise strategies for the improvement of educational programs for children and adolescents.