The Impact of Reactivation During Sleep on the Consolidation of Abstract Information in Humans

April 17, 2024 updated by: University of Pennsylvania

The Emergence of Abstract Structure Knowledge Across Learning and Sleep

In any given cognitive domain, representations of individual elements are not independent but are organized by means of structured relations. Representations of this underlying structure are powerful, allowing generalization and inference in novel environments. In the semantic domain, structure captures associations between different semantic features or concepts (e.g., green, wings, can fly) and is known to influence the development and deterioration of semantic knowledge. The investigators recently found that humans more easily learn novel categories that contain clusters of reliably co-occurring features, revealing an influence of structure on novel category formation. However, a critical unknown is whether learned representations of structure are closely tied to category-specific elements, or whether such representations become abstract to some extent, transformed away from the experienced features. Further, if abstract structural representations do emerge, prior work provides intriguing hints that these representations may require offline consolidation during awake rest or sleep. The investigators have developed a paradigm in which carefully designed graph structures govern the pattern of feature co-occurrences within individual categories. Here the investigators implement a "structure transfer" extension of this paradigm in order to determine whether learning one structured category facilitates learning of a second identically structured category defined by a new set of features. This facilitation would provide evidence that structure representations are abstract to some degree. Aim 1 will use these methods to evaluate whether abstract structural representations emerge immediately during learning. Aim 2 will determine whether these representations persist, or emerge, over a delay, and whether sleep-based consolidation in particular is needed. The role of replay of recent experience during sleep will be evaluated using electroencephalography (EEG) paired with closed-loop targeted memory reactivation (TMR), a technique that enables causal influence over the consolidation of recently learned information in humans. This work will inform and constrain theories of semantic learning as well as theories of structure learning and representation more broadly.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

250

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • Recruiting
        • University of Pennsylvania
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 35 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Ages between 18 and 35

Exclusion Criteria:

  • No medical or neurological illness that would impact experimental performance
  • Not a member of a vulnerable population

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Immediate Congruent
Participants will learn and be tested on two different semantic categories with the same structure that dictates the co-occurrence of different features.
The Congruent vs. Incongruent intervention relates to the feature-based structure of the novel categories (Modular or non-Modular) and whether there is (Congruent) or is not (Incongruent) a match between what was previously learned and the final target category.
Immediate, Awake, and Sleep refer to either no break, 2.5 hours awake, or 2 hours asleep plus a 30-minute post-nap break to account for sleep inertia between learning and target category.
Experimental: Immediate Incongruent
Participants will learn and be tested on two different semantic categories with different structures that dictate the co-occurrence of different features.
The Congruent vs. Incongruent intervention relates to the feature-based structure of the novel categories (Modular or non-Modular) and whether there is (Congruent) or is not (Incongruent) a match between what was previously learned and the final target category.
Immediate, Awake, and Sleep refer to either no break, 2.5 hours awake, or 2 hours asleep plus a 30-minute post-nap break to account for sleep inertia between learning and target category.
Experimental: Awake Incongruent
Participants will learn two different semantic categories, neither of which has a Modular structure. After a 2.5-hour break, they will learn and be tested on a novel semantic category with a Modular structure.
The Congruent vs. Incongruent intervention relates to the feature-based structure of the novel categories (Modular or non-Modular) and whether there is (Congruent) or is not (Incongruent) a match between what was previously learned and the final target category.
Immediate, Awake, and Sleep refer to either no break, 2.5 hours awake, or 2 hours asleep plus a 30-minute post-nap break to account for sleep inertia between learning and target category.
Experimental: Awake Congruent
Participants will learn two different semantic categories, one of which has a Modular structure. After a 2.5-hour break, they will learn and be tested on a novel semantic category with a Modular structure.
The Congruent vs. Incongruent intervention relates to the feature-based structure of the novel categories (Modular or non-Modular) and whether there is (Congruent) or is not (Incongruent) a match between what was previously learned and the final target category.
Immediate, Awake, and Sleep refer to either no break, 2.5 hours awake, or 2 hours asleep plus a 30-minute post-nap break to account for sleep inertia between learning and target category.
Experimental: Sleep Incongruent
Participants will learn two different semantic categories, one of which has a Modular structure. After a 2-hour nap opportunity, during which TMR will be used to reactivate the non-Modular category, participants will take a 30-minute break. After the break, they will learn and be tested on a novel semantic category with a Modular structure.
The Congruent vs. Incongruent intervention relates to the feature-based structure of the novel categories (Modular or non-Modular) and whether there is (Congruent) or is not (Incongruent) a match between what was previously learned and the final target category.
Immediate, Awake, and Sleep refer to either no break, 2.5 hours awake, or 2 hours asleep plus a 30-minute post-nap break to account for sleep inertia between learning and target category.
Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) is the systematic presentation of sounds during sleep that were associated with certain stimuli during learning and will be administered either during slow wave sleep (SWS) or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Experimental: Sleep Congruent (SWS)
Participants will learn two different semantic categories, one of which has a Modular structure. After a 2-hour nap opportunity, during which TMR will be used to reactivate the Modular category during slow wave sleep (SWS), participants will take a 30-minute break. After the break, they will learn and be tested on a novel semantic category with a Modular structure.
The Congruent vs. Incongruent intervention relates to the feature-based structure of the novel categories (Modular or non-Modular) and whether there is (Congruent) or is not (Incongruent) a match between what was previously learned and the final target category.
Immediate, Awake, and Sleep refer to either no break, 2.5 hours awake, or 2 hours asleep plus a 30-minute post-nap break to account for sleep inertia between learning and target category.
Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) is the systematic presentation of sounds during sleep that were associated with certain stimuli during learning and will be administered either during slow wave sleep (SWS) or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Experimental: Sleep Congruent (REM)
Participants will learn two different semantic categories, one of which has a Modular structure. After a 2-hour nap opportunity, during which TMR will be used to reactivate the Modular category during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, participants will take a 30-minute break. After the break, they will learn and be tested on a novel semantic category with a Modular structure.
The Congruent vs. Incongruent intervention relates to the feature-based structure of the novel categories (Modular or non-Modular) and whether there is (Congruent) or is not (Incongruent) a match between what was previously learned and the final target category.
Immediate, Awake, and Sleep refer to either no break, 2.5 hours awake, or 2 hours asleep plus a 30-minute post-nap break to account for sleep inertia between learning and target category.
Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) is the systematic presentation of sounds during sleep that were associated with certain stimuli during learning and will be administered either during slow wave sleep (SWS) or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Structure knowledge for a new Modular category in Stage 2
Time Frame: In Aim 1, accuracy is collected in a missing feature task 25 min. into the experiment, taking 25 min. In Aim 2, accuracy is collected in a missing feature task over 25 min in Stage 2
Accuracy (0-100%) on the missing feature task in Stage 2
In Aim 1, accuracy is collected in a missing feature task 25 min. into the experiment, taking 25 min. In Aim 2, accuracy is collected in a missing feature task over 25 min in Stage 2

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Anna C Schapiro, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 29, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 14, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 14, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

February 27, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 19, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 17, 2024

Last Verified

April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 833228A
  • 1R21MH128788-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

All IPD that underlie results in a publication.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

IPD will be available at the time of study publication.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

IPD will be publicly available without restriction.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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