Does Napping Boost Benefits of Brain-Training for Working Memory?

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is engaged in most cognitive tasks deployed in the human brain . Braintraining regimens that target WM may promote plasticity, leading to improved WM skills . Additionally, sleep is known to facilitate consolidation of newly learned information and skills . Here, we asked if napping could boost benefits of brain-training for WM. Participants completed ten days of WM training on an N-back task; on each training day, a subset of participants were given a 30-minute nap opportunity (with EEG recording) immediately following their training session (training+nap) . In Study 1 (n=10), we equated the amount of training (20-min training/day) in all participants and compared training only to training+nap . In Study 2 (n=8), we asked if napping can effectively replace additional time spent training; we compared training+nap (20-min training/day) to double training (40-min training/day) . On average, the nap group slept 16 .0±5 .77 minutes/nap in Study 1 and 15 .98±7 .44 minutes/nap in Study 2 . Our dependent measure of performance was the highest N-level achieved on each day of training .In both studies, we found that performance improved across the ten days of the study . However, there was no day x group interaction in either study, suggesting that the degree of improvement did not differ between training only vs . training+nap groups . In Study 2, there was a trend towards more improvement with double training compared to single training+nap . For people looking to dedicate time each day to improving their WM, it may be more beneficial to spend the entire time training rather than training+napping .