Human Learning of New Structured Information Across Time and Sleep
Learning Novel Structure Across Time and Sleep
2 other identifiers
interventional
105
1 country
1
Brief Summary
Acting adaptively requires quickly picking up on structure in the environment and storing the acquired knowledge for effective future use. Dominant theories of the hippocampus have focused on its ability to encode individual snapshots of experience, but the investigators and others have found evidence that it is also crucial for finding structure across experiences. The mechanisms of this essential form of learning have not been established. The investigators have developed a neural network model of the hippocampus instantiating the theory that one of its subfields can quickly encode structure using distributed representations, a powerful form of representation in which populations of neurons become responsive to multiple related features of the environment. The first aim of this project is to test predictions of this model using high resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in paradigms requiring integration of information across experiences. The results will clarify fundamental mechanisms of how humans learn novel structure, adjudicating between existing models of this process, and informing further model development. There are also competing theories as to the eventual fate of new hippocampal representations. One view posits that during sleep, the hippocampus replays recent information to build longer-term distributed representations in neocortex. Another view claims that memories are directly and independently formed and consolidated within the hippocampus and neocortex. The second aim of this project is to test between these theories. The investigators will assess changes in hippocampal and cortical representations over time by re-scanning participants and tracking changes in memory at a one-week delay. Any observed changes in the brain and behavior across time, however, may be due to generic effects of time or to active processing during sleep. The third aim is thus to assess the specific causal contributions of sleep to the consolidation of structured information. The investigators will use real-time sleep electroencephalography to play sound cues to bias memory reactivation. The investigators expect that this work will clarify the anatomical substrates and, critically, the nature of the representations that support encoding and consolidation of novel structure in the environment.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P50-P75 for not_applicable
Started Jun 2023
Longer than P75 for not_applicable
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
May 10, 2023
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
June 5, 2023
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
June 20, 2023
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
March 1, 2028
ExpectedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
March 1, 2028
August 1, 2025
July 1, 2025
4.7 years
May 10, 2023
July 29, 2025
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (4)
Changes in multivariate representations
Changes in spatial correlations between the MRI BOLD pattern associated with related objects over the course of learning and across the one-week delay.
Within first session (spanning 2-3 hrs.) and at approximately one week delay in second session (spanning 1-2 hrs.)
Brain-behavior correlations
Correlations between BOLD signal in the brain and participant behavior during judgments about objects.
Within first session (spanning 2-3 hrs.) and at approximately one week delay in second session (spanning 1-2 hrs.)
Correlations between activity across brain regions
Relationships between BOLD activity across different regions of the brain as a function of trial type and delay.
Within first session (spanning 2-3 hrs.) and at approximately one week delay in second session (spanning 1-2 hrs.)
Memory accuracy
Change in generalization ability from before to after the nap as a function of the different conditions of object cueing during sleep.
Within single study session (spanning 4-5 hrs.)
Study Arms (3)
Learning and consolidation in Associative Inference
EXPERIMENTALThe proposed functional magnetic resonance imaging study assesses the neural representations contributing to humans' ability to associate objects in the support of simple inferences and generalization. All participants will undergo the same procedure. Participants will learn about pairs of objects and then be asked to make judgments and inferences about the relationships between the objects. The order of presentation of the objects will be manipulated within subjects, as different learning theories make different predictions about how learning will unfold under different orderings. Participants will be brought back one week later for a second scan, to evaluate how the neural substrates of these processes change with consolidation.
Learning and consolidation in category learning
EXPERIMENTALThe proposed functional magnetic resonance imaging study assesses the neural representations contributing to humans' ability to learn new categories of objects. All participants will undergo the same procedure. Participants will learn about novel objects, each with several colored parts. Some parts are unique to individual objects and others are shared among the members of the category. The investigators will assess how different regions of the brain contribute to learning and remembering these different kinds of parts, and how the resulting representations support category understanding. Participants will be brought back one week later for a second scan, to evaluate how the neural substrates of these processes change with consolidation.
Manipulating replay during sleep using real-time EEG
EXPERIMENTALIn the proposed electroencephalography (EEG) study, all participants will undergo the same procedure. Participants will learn the visual features and spoken names associated with three categories of novel objects. Participants' memory for these objects and the objects' parts will be tested before and after a nap. The investigators will monitor brain activity during the nap in real time and, at optimal moments, quietly play the spoken names of the objects to encourage reactivation of particular objects in particular orders. The investigators will assess how this manipulation impacts memory for these objects.
Interventions
Participants will engage in an associative inference paradigm. Memory will be assessed behaviorally and neural representations will be assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Participants will engage in a category learning paradigm. Memory will be assessed behaviorally (Arms 2 and 3), and neural representations will be assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (Arm 2).
Participants will sleep after engaging in a category learning paradigm while electroencephalography data are collected, and memory will be assessed behaviorally after sleep.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Between 18 and 35 years of age (all aims)
- Not a member of a vulnerable population (all aims)
- Normal or corrected-to-normal vision (all aims)
- Normal hearing (all aims)
- Able to speak English fluently (all aims)
- No prior history of major psychiatric or neurological disorders (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
- Not currently taking any antidepressants or sedatives (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
- No known neurological disorders (Aim 3; EEG-specific)
You may not qualify if:
- The investigators will exclude individuals with MR contraindications such as non-removable biomedical devices or metal in or on the body (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
- Claustrophobia (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
- Pregnant women will also be excluded from neuroimaging, as the effects of MR on pregnancy are not fully understood (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
Study Sites (1)
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States
Related Publications (56)
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PMID: 16260116BACKGROUND
MeSH Terms
Interventions
Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Anna C Schapiro, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- SINGLE
- Who Masked
- PARTICIPANT
- Purpose
- BASIC SCIENCE
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- SPONSOR
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
May 10, 2023
First Posted
June 20, 2023
Study Start
June 5, 2023
Primary Completion (Estimated)
March 1, 2028
Study Completion (Estimated)
March 1, 2028
Last Updated
August 1, 2025
Record last verified: 2025-07
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will share
- Time Frame
- IPD will be available at the time of study publication.
- Access Criteria
- IPD will be publicly available without restriction.
All IPD that underlie results in a publication.