Poster Session 1, 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM: Room 163 [C24]
The Impact of Targeted Memory Reactivation on Declarative Memory Performance During Middle Childhood
Presenter: Syna Sheth
Faculty Sponsor: Rebecca Spencer
School: UMass Amherst
Research Area: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
ABSTRACT
Memory consolidation is the process by which newly acquired information is stabilized and integrated into long-term storage. This process is closely aligned with NREM sleep, during which slow-wave sleep (SWS), slow oscillations (SO), sleep spindles, and delta waves facilitate the transfer of declarative memories from the hippocampus to long-term cortical networks. A growing body of research suggests that targeted memory reactivation (TMR) may enhance memory consolidation by facilitating the coordination of these neural oscillations, yet existing literature focuses almost exclusively on adult populations. In childhood, significant structural changes in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, alongside maturing hippocampal-cortical connectivity, suggest that the pediatric brain may consolidate memories differently. The present study investigates the effectiveness of TMR in children aged 5 to 10 years old using a visuospatial memory task involving associating auditory cues with image-location pairs; half of those cues are subsequently played during sleep or quiet rest (counterbalanced). I hypothesize that TMR will enhance memory performance. Furthermore, the degree of consolidation should be predicted by individual differences in age (i.e., cognitive development). Ultimately, exploring whether TMR can influence developing brains will provide critical insight into the development of sleep-dependent memory.