Sleep & Memory in Children
Sleep is where learning actually takes place. Memories from bouts of learning are consolidated in the brain during periods of sleep. During infancy, information is encoded specifically in cortical structures. As children mature, around 18-24 months there is a change in the development of key structures in the hippocampus
(Gomez & Edgin, 2015). This increased hippocampal development allows connections to be made from the cortex to the hippocampus during sleep-dependent learning. These memories of learning are consolidated in the hippocampus during sleep and eventually stored in long-term memory. These cortico-hippocampal neural connections are integrated during sleep because of the sleep-dependent hippocampal replay of the memories that were acquired while the child was awake
(Diekelmann & Born, 2000). The hippocampus can encode the details of new info in 1-2 exposures. This information is then integrated with part of the cortex attributed to that type of learning that can then create the memory to be triggered later. The cortex needs multiple exposures to strengthen the synapses that create neural connections (practice)
For example, in terms of motor learning, the temporal and spatial pattern of a newly learned movement is encoded in the hippocampus and integrated with the motor cortex so that movement pattern can be remembered and used later
Sleep enhances this process
That newly learned movement goes through a neural replay throughout sleep where the same parts of the motor cortex for that movement are subconsciously firing which is how the information starts the process of being stored in long term memory
(Wilson & McNaughton, 1994)
Overall, to create a neural connection for a specific movement pattern in the cortex, there needs to be multiple repetitions of practice and lots of sleep
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