%0 Journal Article
%T Post-class naps boost declarative learning in a naturalistic school setting
%J -
%D 2018
%R https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-018-0031-z
%X Laboratory evidence of a positive effect of sleep on declarative memory consolidation suggests that naps can be used to boost school learning in a scalable, low-cost manner. The few direct investigations of this hypothesis have so far upheld it, but departed from the naturalistic setting by testing non-curricular contents presented by experimenters instead of teachers. Furthermore, nap and non-nap groups were composed of different children. Here we assessed the effect of post-class naps on the retention of Science and History curricular contents presented by the regular class teacher to 24 students from 5th grade. Retention was repeatedly measured 3¨C4 days after content learning, with weekly group randomization over 6 consecutive weeks. Contents followed by long naps (>30£¿min), but not short naps (<30£¿min), were significantly more retained than contents followed by waking (Cohen¡¯s d£¿=£¿0.7962). The results support the use of post-class morning naps to enhance formal education
%U https://www.nature.com/articles/s41539-018-0031-z