The beginnings of episodic memory formation and the impact of language on the type of transformation during sleep

• Applicant: Dr. Manuela Friedrich
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 409092104

In the requested funding period we aim to further investigate the earliest forms of episodic memory formation in infants and toddlers and to compare these forms with episodic memory formation in adults. Besides the distinction between components of episodic memory and perceptual associative precursors of episodic memory, this project investigates the role of sleep for the transfer of information into longer-lasting memory (consolidation). In the new phase of the project, we focus on the interaction of episodic and semantic memory formation. One main question is whether specific episodic memory and generalized semantic memory can be consolidated simultaneously or consecutively within the same nap, or whether the consolidation of these two forms of declarative memory is mutually exclusive. In this context, we examine to what extent specific external and internal factors, such as language (as one of the earliest social and cognitive cues) and sleep spindles (as trait- and state-dependent memory-related components of sleep), affect the type of memory transformation during sleep. Methodologically, we will study these issues by using the combined analysis of event related potentials (ERPs) and the sleep-EEG, which we have established in our prior work. In a series of studies, this combination has proven to be effective for studying sleep-dependent memory consolidation in earliest childhood. The comparison of brain responses of infants and toddlers with those of adults within identical experimental designs is expected to provide information about the kind of memory that is formed during the earliest stages of development. In addition, we expect new insights into the sleep-dependent processes of episodic and semantic memory formation and the determinants of declarative memory consolidation in adults.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants