Understanding How Humans Learn and Remember New Information

This study, called "Human Learning of New Structured Information Across Time and Sleep," is looking for 105 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 35 to understand how people learn and remember new information, especially how sleep affects this process. You'll participate in different learning activities, like "associative inference" and "category learning," and your memory will be tested. Researchers will also use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scan, to see how your brain works during these tasks. In one part of the study, you'll sleep after a learning task while your brain activity is measured with electroencephalography (EEG). The main goal is to see how brain activity changes during learning and how it relates to your memory over a week.

Study design
This interventional study plans to enroll 105 participants. It is not specified if it is randomized or blinded.
What's involved
You would participate in a first session lasting 2-3 hours, and a second session about one week later lasting 1-2 hours. This includes engaging in learning tasks, memory assessments, and potentially undergoing fMRI and EEG scans.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
Your brain activity and memory will be assessed approximately one week after the first session.

AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.

NCT05910762

Human Learning of New Structured Information Across Time and Sleep

Completed
NAAges 18–35InterventionalBasic science
University of Pennsylvania
~119 participants
Updated 2026-08-20 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Associative inferenceCategory learningSleep

At a glance

Recruiting sites
0 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Changes in multivariate representations
Measured over Within first session (spanning 2-3 hrs.) and at approximately one week delay in second session (spanning 1-2 hrs.)
+3 more outcomes measured
Learning
Humans
Consolidation
Sleep

NCT05910762

Where you'd take part

This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.

  • University of Pennsylvania

    Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniano site contact published

Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.

  • Anna C Schapiro, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · University of Pennsylvania

This trial hasn't published a contact. View it on ClinicalTrials.gov

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

Between 18 and 35 years of age (all aims)
Not a member of a vulnerable population (all aims)
Normal or corrected-to-normal vision (all aims)
Normal hearing (all aims)
Able to speak English fluently (all aims)
No prior history of major psychiatric or neurological disorders (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
Not currently taking any antidepressants or sedatives (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
No known neurological disorders (Aim 3; EEG-specific)

Exclusion

The investigators will exclude individuals with MR contraindications such as non-removable biomedical devices or metal in or on the body (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
Claustrophobia (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
Pregnant women will also be excluded from neuroimaging, as the effects of MR on pregnancy are not fully understood (Aims 1 and 2; MRI-specific)
  • Changes in multivariate representationsWithin first session (spanning 2-3 hrs.) and at approximately one week delay in second session (spanning 1-2 hrs.)

    Changes in spatial correlations between the MRI BOLD pattern associated with related objects over the course of learning and across the one-week delay.

  • Brain-behavior correlationsWithin first session (spanning 2-3 hrs.) and at approximately one week delay in second session (spanning 1-2 hrs.)

    Correlations between BOLD signal in the brain and participant behavior during judgments about objects.

  • Correlations between activity across brain regionsWithin first session (spanning 2-3 hrs.) and at approximately one week delay in second session (spanning 1-2 hrs.)

    Relationships between BOLD activity across different regions of the brain as a function of trial type and delay.

  • Memory accuracyWithin single study session (spanning 4-5 hrs.)

    Change in generalization ability from before to after the nap as a function of the different conditions of object cueing during sleep.