Longitudinal study of sleep physiology and function across toddlerhood

项目摘要 幼儿一天有一半时间在睡觉。虽然众所周知，睡眠支持儿童时期的学习，但这是否 在早期发育过程中的功能变化是未知的。最近的理论研究表明， 在睡眠中认知功能发生在这个年龄。因此，需要对整个幼儿期的睡眠进行纵向研究。 这项研究的具体目标是检查夜间睡眠的纵向变化 生理和睡眠的认知功能在16-31个月的儿童。在此过程中，我们将讨论两个 提出了幼儿期睡眠功能的变化。首先，海马发育的关键变化是 建议改变这24个月的睡眠功能<18 months relative to those >。第二，模型 大脑代谢表明，睡眠功能，特别是REM睡眠，从&lt;28个月的相对 这是&gt;30个月。为了测试这些预测的睡眠功能转折点，我们将招募16岁的婴儿， 或21个月，并评估陈述性记忆之前和之后过夜睡眠3波，间隔5 个月多导睡眠图将用于了解睡眠益处的生理机制。 目的1是检查夜间睡眠对记忆的好处是否会在幼儿时期发生变化。具体地说， 我们将考虑睡眠相对于清醒对记忆结果的有益程度是否有变化， 在幼儿时期。我们假设睡眠会持续保护这个年龄段的记忆， 随着发展，记忆会在清醒时更少地衰退。目的2是研究快速眼动的作用是否 和非快速眼动睡眠到记忆的变化。具体来说，我们将研究 nREM振荡和REM睡眠对睡眠相关记忆变化的预测贡献 幼儿期。假设2是睡眠中记忆的变化与睡眠纺锤波的耦合有关 和缓慢的振荡，特别是这些节奏之间的相位耦合。这项工作将明确 睡眠和发育科学领域的理论意义，因为我们试图测试的理论， 在这些领域引起了人们的注意。区分这个年龄段的睡眠功能将提供关键的 深入了解睡眠对任何年龄的记忆都有好处。这项工作具有翻译性， 意义也。具体来说，了解这个年龄段的睡眠生理学和功能对于 认识和理解这些过程何时受损。此外，睡眠在记忆中的作用 承诺采取干预措施，改善学习迟缓或康复状况。对睡眠的理解如此深刻 在记忆中的作用将最终支持这种干预方法。

PROJECT SUMMARY Toddlers spend half their day sleeping. While it is known that sleep supports learning in childhood, whether this function changes across early development is unknown. Recent theoretical work suggests that critical transitions in sleep's cognitive function occur at this age. Thus, longitudinal studies of sleep across toddlerhood are needed. The specific objective of the proposed research is to examine longitudinal changes in overnight sleep physiology and sleep's cognitive function in children 16-31 months of age. In doing so, we will address two proposed changes in sleep function in toddlerhood. First, critical changes in hippocampal development are suggested to change sleep's function for those <18 months relative to those >24 months. Second, models of brain metabolism suggest that the function of sleep, particularly REM sleep, changes from <28 months relative to those >30 months. To test these predicted turning points in sleep function, we will recruit infants who are 16 or 21 months and assess declarative memory before and after overnight sleep in 3 waves, separated by 5 months. Polysomnography will be used to understand the physiological mechanism underlying sleep benefits. Aim 1 is to examine whether memory benefits of overnight sleep change across toddlerhood. Specifically, we will consider whether there is a change in how beneficial sleep is relative to wake on memory outcomes across toddlerhood. We hypothesize that sleep will protect memories consistently across this age span but that memories will decay less over wake with development. Aim 2 is to examine whether the contribution of REM and non-REM sleep to memory change over sleep across toddlerhood. Specifically, we will examine predicted contributions of nREM oscillations and REM sleep to sleep-related memory changes across toddlerhood. Hypothesis 2 is that the change in memory over sleep is associated with coupling of sleep spindles and slow oscillations and, in particular, the phase coupling between these rhythms. This work will have clear theoretical significance for the fields of sleep and developmental sciences as we seek to test theories that have gained attention in those fields. Distinguishing the function of sleep across this age range will provide critical insight into mechanisms underlying sleep's memory benefit at any age. The work holds translational significance as well. Specifically, understanding sleep physiology and function at this age is critical for recognizing and understanding when these processes are impaired. Moreover, sleep's role in memory holds promise for interventions to improve learning delays or rehabilitation. As such a strong understanding of sleep's role in memory will eventually support such intervention approaches.