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Sleep-dependent memory consolidation in infants protects new episodic memories from existing semantic memories

Author

Listed:
  • Manuela Friedrich

    (Humboldt-University of Berlin
    Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences)

  • Matthias Mölle

    (University of Lübeck)

  • Angela D. Friederici

    (Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences)

  • Jan Born

    (University of Tübingen)

Abstract

Any experienced event may be encoded and retained in detail as part of our episodic memory, and may also refer and contribute to our generalized knowledge stored in semantic memory. The beginnings of this declarative memory formation are only poorly understood. Even less is known about the interrelation between episodic and semantic memory during the earliest developmental stages. Here, we show that the formation of episodic memories in 14- to 17-month-old infants depends on sleep, subsequent to exposure to novel events. Infant brain responses reveal that, after sleep-dependent consolidation, the newly stored events are not processed semantically, although appropriate lexical-semantic memories are present and accessible by similar events that were not experienced before the nap. We propose that temporarily disabled semantic processing protects precise episodic memories from interference with generalized semantic memories. Selectively restricted semantic access could also trigger semantic refinement, and thus, might even improve semantic memory.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuela Friedrich & Matthias Mölle & Angela D. Friederici & Jan Born, 2020. "Sleep-dependent memory consolidation in infants protects new episodic memories from existing semantic memories," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-14850-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14850-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Kosha J. Mehta, 2022. "Effect of sleep and mood on academic performance—at interface of physiology, psychology, and education," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Manuela Friedrich & Matthias Mölle & Jan Born & Angela D. Friederici, 2022. "Memory for nonadjacent dependencies in the first year of life and its relation to sleep," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

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