An SRS Members since 2008, Dr. Rebecca Spencer, University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been awarded a five-year, $2.64 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore, in a series of laboratory and preschool-based studies, whether mid-day napping benefits learning in young children and helps them cope with emotions.

Dr. Spencer notes, “This work builds on work from our lab and SRS colleagues demonstrating that sleep is important to memory and cognition.  We apply those concepts to early childhood.

We appreciate NIH’s support of this work.  Whether naps benefit early learning has important theoretical and translational significance.”