Memory for nonadjacent dependencies in the first year of life and its relation to sleep

Grammar learning requires memory for dependencies between nonadjacent elements in speech. Immediate learning of nonadjacent dependencies has been observed in very young infants, but their memory of such dependencies has remained unexplored. Here we used event-related potentials to investigate whether 6- to 8-month-olds retain nonadjacent dependencies and if sleep after learning affects this memory. Infants were familiarised with two rule-based morphosyntactic dependencies, presented in sentences of an unknown language. Brain responses after a retention period reveal memory of the nonadjacent dependencies, independent of whether infants napped or stayed awake. Napping, however, altered a specific processing stage, suggesting that memory evolves during sleep. Infants with high frontal spindle activity show enhanced brain responses reflecting individual speech phrases. Results imply that as young as 6 months age equipped with memory mechanisms relevant to grammar learning. They also suggest that during sleep, consolidation of highly specific information can co-occur with changes in the nature of generalised memory.

Manuela Friedrich, Matthias Mölle, Jan Born, Angela D. Friederici