An interventional study of nap in Memory, sponsored by University of Maryland, College Park. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 36 Months to 60 Months, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-04.
Sponsored by University of Maryland, College Park · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
To examine the relations between sleep (nap transitions, sleep physiology), memory, and brain development longitudinally, the researchers will assess n=180 children (in order to acquire n=152 usable data sets) who are 36-54 months of age and habitual nappers at enrollment. In each wave, the researchers will assess memory, memory change over a nap and equivalent waking interval, sleep physiology of the nap, and brain structure and function (using Magnetic Resonance Imagining or MRI). Additionally, overnight sleep physiology will be assessed in all participants. Waves will take place approximately every 6 months. For all children, three waves will be collected. With these data, the researchers will address the following aims:
Child participants will be recruited from databases maintained at each university (see Human Subjects). Initially, parent-report will determine whether the child qualifies as a habitual napper, which will later be confirmed by actigraphy. In each wave, participants will then complete 3 sessions, 3-7 days apart. The first two sessions will consist of nap or wake promotion (counter-balanced, separated by one week) and memory assessments. The third session will consist of a visit to the university for the MRI scan. All of the participants will also have overnight sleep and overnight sleep-dependent memory consolidation assessed on the evenings following the nap/wake sessions. An Actiwatch watch will be given to the participant at the beginning of the first wave. Instructions will be included describing how to put the watch on the child and that the watch should be worn as often as possible. Nap and wake sessions will begin 30 mins prior to the child's typical nap time (if habitual nappers) or approximately 12:30 pm (non-habitual nappers). First, children will complete the encoding and immediate retrieval phases of the mnemonic similarity task. Subsequently, children will either be nap- or wake-promoted. Polysomnography (PSG) will be applied in the nap condition, but timing will be equated in the wake condition. Thirty-minutes following wake (or approximately 3:30 pm for those in the wake group), children will complete the delayed retrieval phase of the mnemonic similarity task.
Participants at both testing sites will also have overnight sleep and memory assessed after the nap and wake sessions. Experimenters will arrive at the participant's house about 30 mins prior the child's typical bedtime. The child will encode a new set of stimuli and complete the immediate retrieval phase of the mnemonic discrimination task. Subsequently, the child will be fitted with PSG. Parents are given instructions on placement of the PSG amplifier during the night and how to remove in the electrodes in the morning. Experimenters will return in the morning to retrieve the equipment and obtain the delayed retrieval phase of the mnemonic similarity task. Approximately 3-7 days after the second visit, children will complete the MRI session. The researchers will attempt to obtain MRI scans in the morning to avoid confounds with nap status. The Actiwatch will also be collected in this session. Children will then be fitted with the Fitbit to wear as often as possible between testing waves. These procedures will be repeated every 6 months for 2-3 waves.
University of Maryland, College Park is the lead sponsor of 62 studies on the registry; 15 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Children are nap promoted
Behavioral: nap
Children are nap promoted
Memory
Memory will be assessed using the Mnemonic Similarity Task (MST), before and after nap/wake and overnight sleep. The specific variable of interest is the lure discrimination index, which refers to the probability of "Similar" responses to lure items minus the probability of "Similar" responses given to foils.
Time frame: across the nap period, approximately 2.5 hours
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified data collected through the proposed work will be made available to researchers pursuant to the Policies of NIH and the University of Maryland. Access to data will be granted upon request to qualified academic investigators for non-commercial research. Research resources generated with funds from this grant will be freely distributed, as available, to qualified academic investigators for noncommercial research upon request. Finally, following publication, raw MRI and PSG data will also be made available on the National Sleep Research Resource (NSRR), which is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The NSRR offers access free-of-charge to collections of de-identified physiological signals and clinical data elements from well-characterized research cohorts and clinical trials. If MRI data prove difficult to upload to NSRR, we will work with NHLBI Program to identify a supplemental or additional repository for the MRI data.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form
Time frame: Data will be made available following publication.
Access criteria: Data will be made available to researchers pursuant to the Policies of NIH and the University of Maryland.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Nov 2023 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jun 2028, 55 months after the start.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
No contact was published for this record. The registry link below has the sponsor’s details.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
University of Maryland, College Park