美國的一項新研究顯示,，午間小睡可以幫助學齡前兒童鞏固上午學習的內(nèi)容。研究人員指出,，這說明了午睡對學齡前兒童的重要性,，應該創(chuàng)造條件鼓勵他們午睡。
美國阿默斯特馬薩諸塞大學研究人員23日在美國《國家科學院學報》上報告說,，人們對于幼童午睡的價值知之甚少,，美國的一些學前教育機構(gòu)甚至開始取消午睡，以便增加教學時間,。為此,，他們招募了40名學齡前兒童進行研究，讓這些兒童觀看圖片格子,，并記憶不同圖片的位置,。兒童在上午觀看圖片格子，隨即接受一次記憶測試,，然后下午再測試一次,。
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管這些兒童在學習之后的測試成績類似,，但那些午睡過的兒童在下午的測試中平均記憶準確率為75％,，明顯好于未午睡兒童的65％,。此外，午睡兒童在第二天的測試成績也顯著好于沒有午睡的兒童,，這說明午睡的益處無法通過夜間睡眠彌補,。
該研究負責人麗貝卡·斯潘塞說，這項研究為午睡對學齡前兒童很重要的觀點提供了證據(jù),，因此不僅應該讓學齡前兒童午睡,，而且應創(chuàng)造條件鼓勵他們午睡。有關(guān)教育機構(gòu)應出臺學齡前兒童午睡指南,，并進一步研究如何保證,、促進他們午睡。（生物谷 Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1306418110
Sleep spindles in midday naps enhance learning in preschool children
Laura Kurdziela, Kasey Duclosb,c, and Rebecca M. C. Spencera,b,1
Despite the fact that midday naps are characteristic of early childhood, very little is understood about the structure and function of these sleep bouts. Given that sleep benefits memory in young adults, it is possible that naps serve a similar function for young children. However, children transition from biphasic to monophasic sleep patterns in early childhood, eliminating the nap from their daily sleep schedule. As such, naps may contain mostly light sleep stages and serve little function for learning and memory during this transitional age. Lacking scientific understanding of the function of naps in early childhood, policy makers may eliminate preschool classroom nap opportunities due to increasing curriculum demands. Here we show evidence that classroom naps support learning in preschool children by enhancing memories acquired earlier in the day compared with equivalent intervals spent awake. This nap benefit is greatest for children who nap habitually, regardless of age. Performance losses when nap-deprived are not recovered during subsequent overnight sleep. Physiological recordings of naps support a role of sleep spindles in memory performance. These results suggest that distributed sleep is critical in early learning; when short-term memory stores are limited, memory consolidation must take place frequently.
