TY - JOUR
T1 - Memory-related hippocampal activation in the sleeping toddler
AU - Prabhakar, Janani
AU - Johnson, Elliott G.
AU - Nordahl, Christine W
AU - Ghetti, Simona
PY - 2018/6/19
Y1 - 2018/6/19
N2 - Nonhuman research has implicated developmental processes within the hippocampus in the emergence and early development of episodic memory, but methodological challenges have hindered assessments of this possibility in humans. Here, we delivered a previously learned song and a novel song to 2-year-old toddlers during natural nocturnal sleep and, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, found that hippocampal activation was stronger for the learned song compared with the novel song. This was true regardless of whether the song was presented intact or backwards. Toddlers who remembered where and in the presence of which toy character they heard the song exhibited stronger hippocampal activation for the song. The results establish that hippocampal activation in toddlers reflects past experiences, persists despite some alteration of the stimulus, and is associated with behavior. This research sheds light on early hippocampal and memory functioning and offers an approach to interrogate the neural substrates of early memory.
AB - Nonhuman research has implicated developmental processes within the hippocampus in the emergence and early development of episodic memory, but methodological challenges have hindered assessments of this possibility in humans. Here, we delivered a previously learned song and a novel song to 2-year-old toddlers during natural nocturnal sleep and, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, found that hippocampal activation was stronger for the learned song compared with the novel song. This was true regardless of whether the song was presented intact or backwards. Toddlers who remembered where and in the presence of which toy character they heard the song exhibited stronger hippocampal activation for the song. The results establish that hippocampal activation in toddlers reflects past experiences, persists despite some alteration of the stimulus, and is associated with behavior. This research sheds light on early hippocampal and memory functioning and offers an approach to interrogate the neural substrates of early memory.
KW - Early childhood development
KW - Episodic memory
KW - FMRI
KW - Hippocampal development
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1805572115
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1805572115
M3 - Article
C2 - 29866845
AN - SCOPUS:85048758861
VL - 115
SP - 6500
EP - 6505
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 25
ER -