The Role of Sleep in Children's Intelligence

受睡眠影响最大的人体功能也是智力的关键领域，包括学习、记忆、注意力和执行功能。虽然很明显，睡眠与儿童的智力有关，但其潜在的机制仍不清楚。我们的长期目标是了解睡眠在儿童和青少年认知功能中的作用。这项拟议的研究计划是我们长期目标的一部分，其目的是研究非快速眼动(NREM)睡眠振荡--慢波睡眠和睡眠纺锤波--在整个发育过程中对智力的作用。我们这项研究的基本原理是，一旦我们了解了非快速眼动(NREM)睡眠振荡和智力是如何相互作用的，我们就能够描绘出智力的神经基础，并绘制出睡眠中的个体变化和发育变化与认知发展的关系。 我们计划通过进行一系列旨在调查NREM睡眠振荡和智力之间的相互作用的研究来最终实现我们的目标。我们将在儿童和青少年中使用横断面、交叉顺序和创新的实验设计，并使用神经心理学和行为技术。拟议的工作将在有利于成功完成的研究环境中进行，并使用先进的客观方法来测量儿童自然环境中的睡眠，从而克服此前该领域的方法学挑战。 我们之前的工作证明了所提出的工作的可行性。此外，我们为开展拟议的研究做好了特别充分的准备，因为我们的研究计划具有获得最终结果所需的专业知识和经验的范围和广度。 这项拟议的工作具有创新性，因为它将是第一个计划：1)同时检查SWS中纵向轨迹与认知表现之间的关联；2)检查SWS与儿童和青少年智力之间的关联；3)利用实验设计，允许在这种背景下建立因果关联。 我们的工作将产生重要的积极影响，因为我们的成果有望显著推动认知发展、发育神经科学和儿科睡眠领域的发展，同时也为我们的HQP提供独特的多学科培训机会。

The human functions that are the most affected by sleep are also the key domains of intelligence including learning, memory, attention and executive functions. While it is evident that sleep is associated with intelligence in children, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Our long-term goal is to understand the role of sleep in the cognitive functioning of children and adolescents. The objective of the proposed research program, which is a subsection of our long-term goal, is to examine the role of Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep oscillations - Slow Wave Sleep and sleep spindles-  in intelligence across development.  Our rationale for this study is that once we understand how Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep oscillations and intelligence interact, we will be able to delineate the neural basis for intelligence and map how individual variations and developmental changes in sleep are related to those in cognitive development. We plan to accomplish our objective by pursuing a series of studies aimed at investigating the interplay between NREM sleep oscillations and intelligence. We will use cross-sectional, cross-sequential and innovative experimental designs in children and adolescents, and employ neuropsychological and behavioral techniques. The proposed work will be conducted in a research environment that is conducive to successful completion and uses advanced objective methodology to measure sleep in the child’s natural environment, thus overcoming previous methodological challenges in the field.  Our previous work demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed work. Furthermore, we are particularly well prepared to undertake the proposed research, because our research program has the scope and the breadth of the expertise and experience needed to obtain definitive outcomes. The proposed work is innovative because it will be the first program to: 1) simultaneously examine the associations between longitudinal trajectories in SWS and cognitive performance; 2) examine the associations between SWS and intelligence in children and adolescents; and 3) utilize an experimental design that will allow causal associations to be established in this context.  Our work will have important positive impacts, because our results are expected to significantly advance the fields of cognitive development, developmental neuroscience and pediatric sleep while also offering our HQP unique multidisciplinary training opportunities.