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Positive effects of napping on memory consolidation and resistance against interference

  • Basic Science • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

This study explored the relationship between naps and memory among habitual nappers in China.

Methods

Medical college students participated and were divided into 30-min, 60-min, and 90-min time-in-bed groups. To evaluate declarative and procedural memory performance, A–B and A–C interfering word pair and interfering finger tapping tasks were employed.

Results

Among 60 students, a significant decrease in the correct recall rate in the declarative task after having a nap was found only in the 30-min group (p = 0.005). After learning interference (A-C word pairs), the correct recall rate for the declarative task decreased significantly in all interference tests (ps < 0.001). In the procedural task, the speed of sequence A in the retests increased after having a nap in all three groups (ps < 0.048), with a significant decrease in accuracy only in the 30-min group (p = 0.042). After learning interference (sequence B) in the procedural task, the speed of sequence A increased in the 60-min group after 1 h (p = 0.049), and both the 60-min and 90-min groups showed increased speed after one night (ps < 0.022). No significant improvement in speed was found in the 30-min group (ps > 0.05), and this group showed the lowest accuracy for sequence A (ps < 0.16).

Conclusion

A habitual nap time-in-bed of 60 or 90 min had better effects on declarative and procedural memory consolidation and better memory resistance against interference in procedural memory.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the professors who guided the study design.

Funding

This work was supported by the Thirteenth Five-Year Army Key Discipline Professional Construction Project Support (2020SZxx) and Key Scientific and Research Projects of Logistics in the PLA (20BJZ09).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Yajing Wang and Yao Meng have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Yajing Wang, Yao Meng, Ruike Zhang, Jing Du, Yujia Huang, Shuyu Xu, Lei Xiao, Jingzhou Xu & Hao Wang

  2. Department of Medical Psychology, Changzheng Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Yajing Wang

  3. Shanghai Tongxinjici Health Counseling Center, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Siqi Zheng

  4. Faculty of Psychology, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Tong Su & Yunxiang Tang

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  1. Yajing Wang
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Contributions

YW conceived and conceptualized the study and was responsible for project administration. YW and YM gathered resources, collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the original draft. RZ, JD, YH, SZ, SX, LX, JX, HW, TS, and YT reviewed and edited the manuscript. TS and YT acquired funding. YT supervised the study. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tong Su or Yunxiang Tang.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

Studies involving human participants were approved by the scientific and research Ethics Committee of the Naval Medical University. All participants provided written informed consent.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wang, Y., Meng, Y., Zhang, R. et al. Positive effects of napping on memory consolidation and resistance against interference. Sleep Breath 27, 2499–2507 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-023-02822-3

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