Preschoolers who nap at noon retain what they have learned in the morning better than children who do not sleep throughout the day, according to a study by the University of Massachusetts (USA) published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
Several recent studies show that nighttime sleep enhances learning, consolidating information and increasing the efficiency of memory storage, but until now the effects of naps have been unknown. In an experiment with 40 preschoolers, Rebecca Spencer and her colleagues developed an evening visual-spatial memory test to check the retentiveness of knowledge acquired during the morning. Half of the subjects had taken a nap, and the rest had not. The results showed that memory had consolidated and learning was higher in those children who had napped, confirming the value of naps for memory in the stages of life dedicated to learning .
