Uncovering the Role of Sleep in the Acquisition of Linguistic Knowledge

人类学习的一个显著方面是我们从个人经验中构建一般知识的能力。这一常识几乎是所有认知功能的核心，但在语言中尤其重要，因为它允许我们使用以前没有交流过的新单词、短语和句子。例如，我们理解新词untweetable，因为我们对词缀{un}和{able}的功能有一般的了解。然而，尽管这种形式的知识对人类交流具有重要意义，但我们对它是如何获得的知之甚少。最近的研究提供了强有力的线索，表明睡眠可能在获得一般语言知识方面起着至关重要的作用。在之前的ESRC项目中，我们开发了一个语言学习的实验室模拟，以跟踪一般知识是如何通过对单个单词的多次经历而建立的。这项研究表明，虽然单个项目的新记忆可以很快获得，但发现各个项目的规律性以便进行概括的过程需要一段时间的记忆巩固。本研究项目的目的是发现睡眠是否是获得一般语言知识的关键因素，并进一步描述在睡眠中产生的促进这种学习形式的神经过程。这项建议描述了三个工作包，它们将睡眠科学前沿的方法与我们的语言学习实验室模拟相结合，以揭示睡眠如何影响特定项目和一般知识的发展。在第一个工作包中，我们跟踪在培训和测试之间存在延迟时特定项目和一般知识的获得，并评估如果这种延迟包括通宵睡眠而不是白天醒来是否重要。在第二个工作包中，我们调查了训练前或训练后睡眠剥夺对特定项目和一般语言知识的习得的影响。在第三个工作包中，我们使用嗅觉线索技术在睡眠中重新激活对新学习信息的记忆，并测量这种重新激活是否增强了语言知识的获得。然后，我们将这一实验范式更进一步，询问我们是否可以通过选择性地重新激活特定的记忆来偏向长期学习的过程。在所有涉及睡眠的实验中，我们使用多导睡眠图来评估特定睡眠阶段或睡眠期间神经事件对不同形式学习的重要性。我们还在一周后评估所有实验中的学习情况，以得出关于新知识在较长时间内稳定性的结论。国际研究表明，英国是睡眠不足儿童比例最大的国家之一，超过四分之一的英国人口平均每晚睡眠时间不到5小时。考虑到这些统计数据，了解睡眠不良对学习和记忆的影响是至关重要的。这项研究计划将解决一些深刻的问题，如大脑如何在睡眠中继续处理新的记忆，这些与睡眠相关的神经机制如何塑造长期语言知识的获得，以及睡眠如何为新的学习做好大脑准备。我们的发现将对学习的理论模型产生变革，特别是当这些模型适用于语言时，并将为在教育环境中产生实质性影响提供一系列新的机会。我们已经与学术界和非学术界的利益相关者制定了一项全面的接触计划，以实现这一潜力。

One remarkable aspect of human learning is our ability to build general knowledge from individual experiences. This general knowledge is central to virtually all cognitive functions, but is particularly important in language, as it allows us to use new words, phrases, and sentences that have not been communicated previously. For example, we understand the novel word 'untweetable' because we have general knowledge of the functions of affixes {un} and {able}. However, despite the significance of this form of knowledge for human communication, we know remarkably little about how it is acquired. Recent research provides strong clues that sleep may play a vital role in the acquisition of general linguistic knowledge. In a previous ESRC project, we developed a laboratory analogue of language learning to track how general knowledge is built through multiple experiences with individual words. This research demonstrated that although new memories for individual items can be acquired rapidly, the process of discovering regularities across individual items to permit generalisation requires a period of overnight memory consolidation. The aim of the present research project is to discover whether sleep is the critical factor in the acquisition of general linguistic knowledge, and further, to describe the neural processes arising during sleep that facilitate this form of learning. This proposal describes three work packages that combine methods at the leading edge of sleep science with our laboratory analogue of language learning to uncover how sleep impacts on the development of item-specific and general knowledge. In the first work package, we track the acquisition of item-specific and general knowledge when there is a delay between training and testing, and assess whether it matters if that delay consists of overnight sleep as opposed to daytime wake. In the second work package, we investigate how sleep deprivation before or after training impacts on the acquisition of item-specific and general linguistic knowledge. In the third work package, we use an olfactory cuing technique to reactivate memories of newly-learned information during sleep, and measure whether this reactivation enhances the acquisition of linguistic knowledge. We then take this experimental paradigm one step further to ask whether we can bias the course of long-term learning by selectively reactivating particular memories. In all experiments involving sleep, we use polysomnography to assess the importance of particular sleep stages or neural events during sleep for different forms of learning. We also assess learning in all experiments after one week to draw conclusions about the stability of new knowledge over the longer term. International research has shown that the UK has one of the largest proportions of children who are sleep deprived, and that more than a quarter of the UK population gets on average less than five hours of sleep nightly. Given these statistics, it is of vital importance to understand what the consequences of poor sleep are for learning and memory. This research programme will address profound questions about how the brain continues to process new memories during sleep, how these sleep-related neural mechanisms shape the acquisition of long-term linguistic knowledge, and how sleep prepares the brain for new learning. Our findings will be transformative for theoretical models of learning, particularly as these apply to language, and will provide a range of new opportunities for creating substantive impacts within educational settings. We have developed a full programme of engagement with academic and non-academic stakeholders to realise this potential.