Sleep facilitates spatial memory but not navigation using the Minecraft Memory and Navigation task

Abstract

Sleep facilitates hippocampal-dependent memories, supporting the acquisition and maintenance of internal representation of spatial relations within an environment. In humans, however, findings have been mixed regarding sleep’s contribution to spatial memory and navigation, which may be due to task designs or outcome measurements. We developed the Minecraft Memory and Navigation (MMN) task for the purpose of disentangling how spatial memory accuracy and navigation change over time, and to study sleep’s independent contributions to each. In the MMN task, participants learned the locations of objects through free exploration of an open field computerized environment. At test, they were teleported to random positions around the environment and required to navigate to the remembered location of each object. In study 1, we developed and validated four unique MMN environments with the goal of equating baseline learning and immediate test performance. A total of 86 participants were administered the training phases and immediate test. Participants’ baseline performance was equivalent across all four environments, supporting the use of the MMN task. In study 2, 29 participants were trained, tested immediately, and again 12 h later after a period of sleep or wake. We found that the metric accuracy of object locations, i.e., spatial memory, was maintained over a night of sleep, while after wake, metric accuracy declined. In contrast, spatial navigation improved over both sleep and wake delays. Our findings support the role of sleep in retaining the precise spatial relationships within a cognitive map; however, they do not support a specific role of sleep in navigation.

Shorter self-reported sleep duration in men is associated with worse virtual spatial navigation performance

“…Additionally, other studies have also shown that participants in the middle range of the cohort in terms of age had better cognitive performance at shorter and longer sleep durations than both younger and older participants 30 . Moreover, a recent study showed that in participants of a similar age to ours, sleep can facilitate performance on memory-based tasks but not spatial navigation performance 15 . Another study found sleep fragmentation to be associated with poorer wayfinding performance only in older participants but not in younger participants 7 .…”

“…Experimental sleep deprivation studies have also shown that sleep deprivation results in poorer spatial navigation performance [10][11][12][13] , although other studies report no significant changes in spatial navigation performance following sleep deprivation 14,15 . A recent study from our team also reported a quadratic (Ushaped) association between self-reported sleep duration and virtual spatial navigation performance on SHQ, where mid-range sleep duration was associated with optimal performance 16 .…”

“…Various studies have shown that subjective and objective measures of sleep quality are associated with poorer virtual spatial navigation performance (Coutrot et al, 2022a; Maybrier et al, 2022; Valera et al, 2016; Varga et al, 2016), including sleep duration (Coutrot et al, 2022a; Maybrier et al, 2022), fragmented sleep (Maybrier et al, 2022; Varga et al, 2016) and insomnia-like symptoms (Valera et al, 2016). Experimental sleep deprivation studies have also shown that sleep deprivation results in poorer spatial navigation performance (Feld et al, 2022; Ferrara et al, 2006; 2008; Nguyen et al, 2013), although other studies report no significant changes in spatial navigation performance following sleep deprivation (Orban et al, 2006; Simon et al, 2022). In a recent study we reported a U-shaped association between self-reported sleep duration and virtual spatial navigation performance on SHQ, where mid-range sleep duration was associated with optimal performance (Coutrot et al, 2022a).…”

Reap while you sleep: Consolidation of memories differs by how they were sown

“…These domains are naturally more difficult to control experimentally, but they have the added benefit of generalizing to everyday life (Yarkoni, 2022). In parallel, lab‐based studies examining the effects of sleep on memory should employ more naturalistic designs involving complex stimuli such as videos (e.g., Antony et al, 2021; J. Chen et al, 2016) or virtual‐reality‐like experiences (e.g., K. C. Simon et al, 2022). Altogether, research on how sleep reactivation supports complex memories is at an exciting juncture, and we hope this review has helped to frame its commonalities and guide its future developments.…”

Reap while you sleep: consolidation of memories differs by how they were sown

“…These domains are naturally more difficult to control experimentally, but they have the added benefit of generalizing to everyday life (Yarkoni, 2022). In parallel, lab-based studies examining the effects of sleep on memory should employ more naturalistic designs involving complex stimuli such as videos (e.g., Antony et al, 2021;Chen et al, 2016) or virtual-reality-like experiences (e.g., K. C. Simon et al, 2022). Altogether, research on how sleep reactivation supports complex memories is at an exciting juncture, and we hope this review has helped to frame its commonalities and guide its future developments.…”