Neonatal eyelid conditioning during sleep

Abstract

Using an eyelid conditioning paradigm modeled after that developed by Little, Lipsitt, and Rovee-Collier (1984), Fifer et al. (2010) demonstrated that newborn infants learn during sleep. This study examined the role of sleep state in neonatal learning. We recorded electroencephalogram (EEG), respiratory, and cardiovascular activity from sleeping full term newborn infants during delay eyelid conditioning. In the experimental group (n = 21), a tone was paired with an air puff to the eye. Consistent with Fifer et al. (2010), newborn infants reliably learned during sleep. The experimental group more than doubled EMR rates to a tone alone, while a control group (n = 17) presented with unpaired tones and puffs maintained low EMR rates. Infant learners were more likely to produce a conditioned EMR during quiet sleep compared to active sleep. Understanding the influence of sleep state on conditioned responses will inform the potential use of eyelid conditioning for early screening.

Keywords: associative learning; electrophysiology; eyeblink conditioning; infant; neonate; sleep; sleep state.

FIGURE 1

Change in eye movement responses by group. Bars indicate SE

FIGURE 2

Eye movement responses in the experimental group as a function of session half and sleep state. This figure depicts the total number of trials on which EMRs were observed to the tone alone, across all learners in the experimental group who had available sleep state data. There is a session half × sleep state interaction, such that during the second half only, infants produce an EMR for the vast majority of trials during which they are in quiet sleep. Quiet sleep therefore appears to facilitate the production of conditioned EMRs