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Full-Text Articles in Psychology
Motor Milestone Acquisition And Sleep-Related Learning And Development In Infancy, Aaron Demasi
Motor Milestone Acquisition And Sleep-Related Learning And Development In Infancy, Aaron Demasi
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
The aim of this dissertation is to summarize and extend work in the field of infant sleep and motor development. Chapter 1 summarizes what is currently known about typical infant sleep development and the way that sleep impacts learning throughout infancy. Chapter 2 describes two experiments showing the importance of napping and night sleep in the consolidation of gross motor learning. Given that sleep is beneficial for learning throughout human infancy, the remainder of the dissertation investigates how learning (in this case, motor development) impacts sleep. Chapter 3 establishes the possible role of sleep-dependent movement in sleep disruption resulting from …
Infant Motor Development Predicts The Dynamics Of Movement During Sleep, Aaron Demasi, Melissa N. Horger, Anat Scher, Sarah E. Berger
Infant Motor Development Predicts The Dynamics Of Movement During Sleep, Aaron Demasi, Melissa N. Horger, Anat Scher, Sarah E. Berger
Publications and Research
The characteristics of infant sleep change over the first year. Generally, infants wake and move less at night as they grow older. However, acquisition of new motor skills leads to temporary increases in night waking and movement at night. Indeed, sleep-dependent movement at night is important for sensorimotor development. Nevertheless, little is known about how movement during sleep changes as infants accrue locomotor experience. The current study investigated whether infant sleep and movement during sleep were predicted by infants' walking experience. Seventy-eight infants wore an actigraph to measure physical activity during sleep. Parents reported when their infants first walked across …
An Interdisciplinary Investigation Of Infant Sleep: How We Study It, What It Means For Other Areas Of Development, And Where Methodological Creativity Can Take Us, Melissa Noel Horger
An Interdisciplinary Investigation Of Infant Sleep: How We Study It, What It Means For Other Areas Of Development, And Where Methodological Creativity Can Take Us, Melissa Noel Horger
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
The present dissertation is broken into six chapters. Chapters 2 through 5 comprise four research projects that build upon each other and in both theoretical and methodological ways. The bookends – my introduction and conclusion – are written for an interdisciplinary, even lay audience. In its entirety, the text is centered on infant sleep. First, I describe the functional role of sleep and liken it to a barista working in a coffee shop. Then, I lay out researcher choices – of design and measurement – when incorporating sleep as a facet of a research paradigm. After comparing three measurement techniques …