Recent work in language acquisition and cognitive development shows remarkable learning abilities in infancy. Much of the theoretical development in these fields is based on effects measured immediately after a learning experience, however, sleep is instrumental in transforming specific details of what is learned to a more abstract memory (Gomez, Bootzin, & Nadel, 2006; Hupbach, Gomez, Bootzin, & Nadel, 2009). The ability to abstract away from the specific details of a learning experience is crucial for infants who must be able to summarize and apply key aspects of a learning experience to novel scenarios, much like being able to abstract the block letter "A" to cursive. If memories are too specific infants will not be able to connect prior learning to new scenarios with slightly different information. A more abstract memory can more easily be applied to a wider range of information. A first project will investigate the means by which sleep leads to abstraction. A second project investigates how sleep-dependent memories are connected across time in an attempt to understand how knowledge is amassed over multiple learning experiences. Polysomnographic recording will provide information about how sleep-dependent memories are consolidated in the developing infant brain.
The proposed work is unique in bridging three areas of research: language acquisition, memory, and sleep. It has potential to be transformative to the degree that it 1) impacts language learning theories (to date based on results obtained immediately after a learning experience, not taking the changes associated with intrinsic sleep and memory processes into account); 2) the way empirical learning research is conducted (to scale up to the constraints of real-world learning researchers will need to begin to measure time-dependent effects); and 3) informs us about the relationship between phases of sleep and memory formation in the developing infant brain, dynamics that could have a profound effect on theories of language and memory change, on understanding when normal change goes awry, and for learning in educational practice. In addition to the practical benefits for society, the proposed work has benefits closer to home with training of undergraduate students a significant part of the grant. These students will gain extensive one-on-one experience in conducting scientific research that will prepare them to be highly competitive candidates for graduate programs, and ultimately, for careers in teaching and science.