UNIVERSIDAD CATLICA DE LA SANTSIMA CONCEPCIN

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIN
Departamento de Lenguas







The effect of sleep in the consolidation of novel words






Asignatura:


PROFESOR: Roberto Ferreira
ESTUDIANTES: Erwin Blanco San Martin


CONCEPCIN, DICIEMBRE DE 2013

2

Abstract

Theory: New memory traces learned during the day are not automatically integrated in our
long-term memory; they remain susceptible to sleep consolidating effect several hours after
acquisition. In numerous studies it has been reported an increased capacity of word
memorization in those subjects exposed to sleep periods after word-learning tasks in
comparison to base line group deprived of sleep in the mean time of learning and testing.
Aim: The objective of this research is to measure the effect of sleep in word consolidation.
The study will be carried out by measuring the retention capacity of English novel words in
those non-native speakers of English language. The consolidation effect will be tested in terms
of early sleep and late sleep consolidation.
Research design: An experimental study under the quantitative method will be performed to
obtain valid results in measuring and contrasting the variables.
Method: The experiment will consist of a learning task where a set of 30 English words will
have to be learned by a sample of 2 groups of students and then recalled in three consecutive
tests. Each test is going to be mediated by spans of no sleep, early sleep and late sleep
Expected results: The research team conjectures that the group exposed to early sleep will
outperform in word recalling to the base line group; however, we expect not to have
significative differences after both clusters have experienced early or late sleep respectively.



3

Table of Contents

Abstract2
Table of contents..3
List of figures...5
Acknowledgements..6
Chapter 1: The effect of sleep in the consolidation of novel words7
1.1 Introduction...7
1.2 Expanding education sciences...7
1.3 Biological factors of learning8
1.4 Memory systems...8
1.5 Consolidation of memory traces during sleep.10
1.6 Biochemical interaction during memory consolidation..11
1.7 Declarative memory consolidation studies.12
1.8 Project Overview.13

Chapter 2: Research design14
2.1 Research Questions14
2.2 Objective(s)15
2.3 Variables15

4

2.4 Hypotheses.16
2.4.1 The hypotheses16
2.4.2 The null hypothesis..16

Chapter 3: Method.17
3.1 Participants..17
3.2 Materials and design...17
3.3 Procedure.18
3.3.1 Learning procedure..18
3.3.2 Testing procedure19
3.3.3 Analyzing data20

Chapter 4: Results..22

References..23









5

List of figures

Figure 1.
Hippocampus dissection..9



Figure 2,
Memory systems of the brain...9


Figure 3,
Cortisol molecule.......................11

Figure 4,
Repeated measures test sample......20

Figure 5.
Independent samples T-test....21









6




















Do but consider what an excellent thing sleep is...that golden chain that ties health and our
bodies together
Thomas Dekker

7

Chapter 1
The effect of sleep in the consolidation of novel words

1.1 Introduction
In the fields of education, the teaching efficacy is measured in terms of students test
results, if the students fail is their fault, if they succeed is due to the efficacy of the teaching
strategy. Without going further in assessment details, a brief look in teaching strategies
discloses that important authors in language teaching such as Oxford (1990) and Rubin (1987)
have pointed out the importance of students biological factors that indeed interfere in
language learning; stress, diet and sleep are among these factors. Concerning to the former
factor, numerous studies have reported a significant effect of sleep in memory consolidation;
this effect is not just related to the resting condition but to several biochemical and
bioelectrical changes that underlie to sleep process. The results of sleep consolidation
experiments have demonstrated an enhanced capacity to learn new words in those subjects that
have experienced a sleep period post learning in comparison to base line.

1.2 Expanding education sciences
For a long time psychology has monopolized the tentative explanations on how we
learn, therefore the main theoretical framework to support teachers daily practice has been
based on the results coming from psychologists studies. That the principal sources of
teachers learning theory come from that branch of knowledge is not a disadvantage but
certainly has limitation that cannot be overcome basing their experiments in pure behavioral

8

studies. Hart (1986) asserts that the education never had had a suitable theory of learning, in
the same vein Salas Silva, R. (2003) claims that education could only understand properly the
very base or learning when a detailed and holistic knowledge of the brain came on the hand of
neurosciences.

1.3 Biological factors of learning
Nowadays it is not possible to keep on teaching based on mere suppositions, or in our
own beliefs. Jensen, E. (2008) is critic when considering that the corrects models of teaching
must be brain-compatible, in other words we must take into account the functioning and the
limitations of the brain: for instance the natural attention cycles of 90 minutes in humans and
the memory impairments due to sleep deprivation. Continuing with biological factors, the
interplay existing between memory and sleep has been reinforced by the fact that the human
brain is endowed with many memory systems, the main ones being short term memory, long
term memory, declarative and procedural.

1.4 Memory systems
Squire, L.R., (1987) proposes a model of memory divided into specialized
subsystems that expand the classic differentiation of procedural and declarative memory,
being the declarative memory the subtype that allows us to store and comprehend the semantic
meaning of words (Kutas, M., & Federmeier, K. D. 2000). A finding that reinforce this theory
are the results of an experiment conducted by Packard, M. G., Hirsh, R., & White, N. M.
(1989) where selective lesions in the brain areas of fornix and caudate were applied in rats.
The results showed a consistent relation between the damage in fornix and working memory

9

and damage in the caudate that provoked a deep disruption in the long term memory. In brief
the brain has anatomically different memory systems at least in mammals.


Figure 1. Netter, F. H. (2011). Netter Atlas de Anatomia Humana.
Elsevier. (p. 106)



Figure 2, Squire, L. R. (2004). Memory systems of the brain: a brief history and current
perspective. Neurobiology of learning and memory, 82(3), p(173).

10


As it has been explained, different memory subtypes support different memory
traces, for example in the classic paradigm, according to Ullman, M. T. (2004), the declarative
memory underlies the storage and use of knowledge of facts and events while the procedural
memory supports the learning and execution of motor and cognitive skills, especially those
involving sequences. But, how are these memory traces integrated in long term memory?
.

1.5 Consolidation of memory traces during sleep
According to Diekelmann & Born (2010), procedural memory traces are integrated
during the REM sleep and declarative memory traces are stored in long term memory during
NREM sleep. The NREM sleep is characterized by low brain activity, low hormonal
production and a decreased wave spindle of bioelectrical activity, called regularly SWS sleep,
whereas The REM sleep presents an increased brain activity in both electrical activity and
biochemical interaction of neurotransmitters and hormones.

Mohns, E. J., & Blumberg, M. S. (2010), discovered that in rats there is a neocortical-
hippocampal communication during sleep, in which an increased activity in one of them is
followed by a proportional activity in the other, furthermore, rdi, P., Huhn, Z., & Kiss, T.
(2005) state that the neocortical-hippocampal cooperation during sleep is the process when
information can be stored, circulated, recalled and even created. This communication during
sleep takes place during NREM sleep and is thought to be the moment when hippocampus
sends information to neocortical structures for long term storage.


11

1.6 Biochemical interaction during memory consolidation
During the sleep for an effective memory consolidation complex biochemical
interplay is needed, for instance Payne, J. D., & Nadel, L. (2004), discovered that by
increasing artificially the cortisol level in blood, it disrupts the normal hippocampal-
neocortical communication interfering with memory consolidation. Another study conducted
by Plihal, Pietrowsky & Born (1999) demonstrated that by ingesting a cortical antagonist
Dexamethasone, the people is unable to consolidate memory traces during NREM sleep.
Recently Gais & Born (2004) conducted a study to test the role of acetylcholine as a triggering
neurotransmitter. A sample of healthy men were administered the acetylcholine antagonist
physostigmine, and the base line ingested a placebo. The results after a word learning task
mediated by sleep, accounts for the inability of the physostigmine group to consolidate new
memory traces in comparison with base line. The experiment reveals the dependency of the
sleep in a perfect interplay of several neuromodulatory biochemicals.


Figure 3, Cortisol molecule. In Wikipedia, n.d., Retrieved December 5, 2013, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/File:Cortisol-3D-balls.png


12


1.7 Declarative memory consolidation studies
Experiments to prove the consolidating effect on sleep in word learning has shown
consistent results until now. Wilhelm, Diekelmann & Born (2008) executed a research where
children and adults divided randomly in two groups performed a word-pair learning task, the
group that slept surpassed the awaken group. The results were similar in children and adults.

The sleep consolidating effect has shown significant results also in short period of
time, for instance Lahl, Wispel, Willigens, & Pietrowsky (2008) designed a set of experiments
to measure the effectiveness of word recall after a given time of sleep. Comparing three
groups two groups shown better results in word recalling in comparison to awaken group,
what is surprising is that one of these groups benefited from consolidation even in a short
period of 6 minutes. Also Tucker & Fishbein (2008) obtained comparable results by applying
a word recall test on people exposed to wakefulness and a day snap after a learning task. As
expected the day-snap group showed much better results, and what is more, those who
acquired the task better consolidated better. The conclusion leads to hypothesize that slow
wave sleep (SWS) in NREM sleep are important for processing of hippocampus-dependent
declarative memories for providing optimal electrophysiological and biochemical state but
does not give a new lease to comprehend the content.





13

1.8 Project Overview
As far as it has been explained, the human brain has an internal functioning ruled by
cycles and processes. These processes take place in anatomically different part of the brain; in
the case of memory, the anatomy of the brain endows the human to process and store different
types of memory traces. The process of memory storage in the case of declarative memory
(such as words of knowledge) takes place during NREM sleep because this biological window
permits the perfect interplay of bioelectrical and neurochemical balance to synchronize the
hippocampus and the neocortex. However the question that remains is: Does the human brain
is able to consolidate effectively new foreign words that do not belong to our native language?










14

Chapter 2
Research design


2.1 Research Questions

The questions that this research might answer are basically:

Does the group exposed to early sleep outperform the non-sleep group in word
recalling?

Is the base-line group still able to consolidate words if exposed to a late-sleep period
several hours after?

Are the word consolidation results statistically significative comparing early sleep and
late sleep tests?

Which words, concrete or abstract are better recalled across tests?





15

2.2 Objective(s)

To experimentally test whether the sleep benefits word consolidation.

2.3 Variables:
Independent variables:
Amount of words to memorize
Exposure to early sleep
Exposure to late sleep
Exposure to non-sleep period
Length of time to memorize words
Span of time intervals among memorization process and tests

Dependent variables:
Amount of words successfully recalled immediately after learning task
Amount of word recalled after early sleep
Amount of words recalled after non-sleep period
Amount of words recalled after late sleep period
Amount of concrete words recalled
Amount of abstract words recalled




16

2.4 Hypotheses

2.4.1 The hypotheses proposed in this experiment are defined as follows:

The people consolidate better English novel words when learning is mediated by a
period of sleep
After a word learning task mediated by non-sleeping period, the people is still able to
consolidate new words by experiencing a late sleep period.
The difference in word recalling must not be statistically significative in comparing
early sleep and late sleep results.
The word recalling results must be statistically significative in comparing non-sleep
tests to early and late sleep rest results.

2.4.2 The null hypothesis is developed as follows:
There is no statistically significance in comparing the results of word recalling
between groups exposed to sleep periods and non-sleep periods.



17

Chapter 3
Method

3.1 Participants

In this study, the sample is going to be constituted of 40 male students, ranging from
17 to 19 years, belonging to low and middle class, all of them attending fourth year in the high
school. The School chosen to conduct the experiment is the Liceo Enrique Molina Garmendia
placed in Concepcion city, Chile.
The whole sample will be splitted and randomly assigned in two groups, the first
group will experience the effects of early consolidation and the second group -or base line-
will experience the non-sleep period and late consolidation sleep afterwards.
Beforehand an interview will be applied to know whether they are under any medical
treatment or they suffer from sleep disorders. The ones classified in one of the conditions will
not be considered to participate in the tests.

3.2 Materials and design

The materials to perform the test are primarily a fully functional computer laboratory
in order to show them a set of slides containing the words during the learning task process.
The words contained in the task will come from two sources, the abstracts ones will be
gathered from the AWL list and the concrete words will be Anglo-saxon words containing

18

living and non living things. For the forthcoming tests, two schools-like rooms endowed with
the basic infrastructure for twenty students are needed.

To apply the word-recall tests, a simple form will be delivered for the students to
write as many words as they can in the allocated time for the test. Pencils and eraser will also
be provided by the experimenters.

With the purpose of measuring and analyzing the raw data for statistical significance,
the SPSS software is going to be used in this pursuit. The design of the study is experimental
and the method quantitative.

3.3 Procedure
To conduct the experiment the participants will be randomly assigned to any of the two
groups. The first group is named early sleep and the base line group late sleep group.
Then just before the experiment starts the researchers will ask every student whether they feel
well and whether they slept the previous night, if not, they will not be accepted in the task.

3.3.1 Learning procedure
The early sleep group, at 4 PM, will sit in front of a computer where a set of 30 words
will be displayed in big letters along with an image of it for giving context; also the
corresponding phonetic image of the word will be shown as a sound. This group has 60
minutes to learn the word at the pace they choose. Right after the test the participants will have

19

a 10-minutes break, and then they will come back to the first word-recall tests that will last 30
minutes.

The late sleep group at 9 AM, will sit in front of a computer where a set of 30 words
will be displayed in big letters along with an image of it for giving context; also the
corresponding phonetic image of the word will be shown as a sound. This group has 60
minutes to learn the word at the pace they choose. Right after the test the participants will have
a 10-minutes break, and then they will come back to the first word-recall tests that will last 30
minutes.

3.3.2 Testing procedure:

The early sleep group -as supposed- will experience an early sleep period that will
consist of the entire sleep period that might last not less than 7 hours. Consistently with this
fact, this group will be retested again the following day from 8.30 AM to 9.00 AM, where as
in the first test, they will have to recall as many words as they can. Again at 6.30 PM the
students will face a third last test that will last 30 minutes and that is intended to detect
variation in memory consolidation.

The late sleep group will not have a sleep period in the mean time of the first and
second test, so the second test will be applied to them at 6 PM during the same day. According
to the plan, the natural period of sleep that the base line group will experience during the
night, will permit memory traces travel from the hippocampus to the neocortex, therefore

20

producing consolidation in recently learned words; Consequently, a third last test will be
carried out on this group the following day to test the effects of late consolidation process.

3.3.3 Analyzing data

To prove significant outcomes in test results, a Split-Plot ANOVA test will be
employed. The idea is to perform a repeated measure along both groups to realize
improvements. Then as part of Split-Plot ANOVA, an independent sample T-test will be
executed to compare results across groups. In the case of the main hypotheses the research will
be satisfied if the test B of the early sleep group gets a significative difference in comparison
with the B test of the late sleep group.

Figure 4, Thesis proposal of Erwin Blanco San Martin 2013, repeated measure test.

21


Figure 5, Thesis proposal of Erwin Blanco San Martin 2013
.Independent sample T-test.





22

Chapter 4
Results

The results we expect from this study are basically these ones:

1. To demonstrate a direct relationship between word consolidation mediated by sleep
periods and the amount of word recalled in tests.
2. To obtain statistically significative results in comparing the word recall tests of the
early sleep group and non-sleep group, that is to say a p-value of 0.05 or less.
3. Not to get a significative p-value in comparing the results of the early sleep
consolidation test and late sleep consolidation test.
4. Obtain significative results in comparing word recall tests mediated by sleep period
and non-sleeping periods









23

References

Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nature Reviews
Neuroscience, 11(2), 114-126
.
rdi, P., Huhn, Z., & Kiss, T. (2005). Hippocampal theta rhythms from a computational
perspective: code generation, mood regulation and navigation.Neural networks, 18(9),

Gais, S., & Born, J. (2004). Low acetylcholine during slow-wave sleep is critical for
declarative memory consolidation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America, 101(7), 2140-2144

HART, L. (1986). A Response: All "Thinking" Paths lead to the Brain.Educational
Leadership 44. 9: 45-48.

Jensen, E. (2008). Brain-based learning: The new paradigm of teaching. Corwin Press.

Kutas, M., & Federmeier, K. D. (2000). Electrophysiology reveals semantic memory use in
language comprehension. Trends in cognitive sciences, 4(12), 463-470.

24

Lahl, O., Wispel, C., Willigens, B., & Pietrowsky, R. (2008). An ultra short episode of sleep is
sufficient to promote declarative memory performance. Journal of sleep research, 17(1), 3-
10.

Milner, B. (1959). The memory defect in bilateral hippocampal lesions.Psychiatric Research
Reports, 11, 43.

Mohns, E. J., & Blumberg, M. S. (2010). Neocortical activation of the hippocampus during
sleep in infant rats. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(9), 3438-3449.

Oxford, R. L. (2003). Language learning styles and strategies: Concepts and
relationships. IRAL, 41(4), 271-278.

Packard, M. G., Hirsh, R., & White, N. M. (1989). Differential effects of fornix and caudate
nucleus lesions on two radial maze tasks: evidence for multiple memory systems. The
Journal of neuroscience, 9(5), 1465-1472.

Payne, J. D., & Nadel, L. (2004). Sleep, dreams, and memory consolidation: the role of the
Plihal, W., & Born, J. (1999). Effects of early and late nocturnal sleep on priming and spatial
memory. Psychophysiology, 36(5), 571-582.

25

Rubin, J. (Ed.). (1987). Learner strategies in language learning. Macmillan College.

Salas Silva, R. (2003). La educacin necesita realmente de la neurociencia?.Estudios
pedaggicos (Valdivia), (29), 155-171.

Squire, L. R. (1987). Memory and brain. Oxford University Press.
stress hormone cortisol. Learning & Memory, 11(6), 671-678.

Tucker, M. A., & Fishbein, W. (2008). Enhancement of declarative memory performance
following a daytime nap is contingent on strength of initial task acquisition. Sleep, 31(2),
197.

Ullman, M. T. (2004). Contributions of memory circuits to language: The
declarative/procedural model. Cognition, 92(1), 231-270.

Wilhelm, I., Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2008). Sleep in children improves memory
performance on declarative but not procedural tasks. Learning & Memory, 15(5), 373-377.