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

根据系统巩固理论，新信息的巩固需要记忆表征从海马体逐渐转移到新皮质部位（例如，转移到中前额叶皮层；mPFC），这通常发生在几周到几个月内。大脑皮层中有一个可以整合新信息的联合网络，它的存在大大加快了这一过程。睡眠，特别是慢波睡眠，支持记忆巩固，这与学习后睡眠中慢波活动（SWA）的局部上调相一致，这些区域在学习期间被激活。与成年人相比，儿童的大脑皮层对先前知识的联想网络没有那么复杂，但他们的睡眠包含更多的慢波活动，在青春期前不久达到峰值。计划中的项目侧重于研究先验知识对10-12岁儿童记忆形成和睡眠的影响。具体而言，计划中的研究将阐明先验知识是否会影响该年龄组的编码、学习后睡眠期间局部SWA的调节以及睡眠后的保留表现。我假设，在编码过程中，当获得的信息与先前的知识相关联时，mPFC的激活被增强。此外，在学习后睡眠期间，这些mPFC区域的SWA应得到增强，SWA水平的提高与更好的记忆表现相一致。考虑到先验知识的作用，结果将增加我们对儿童记忆巩固的基本机制的理解。揭示儿童时期学习和记忆形成的机制可能有助于制定改善儿童和青少年教育计划的策略。

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.