York children aged between eight and 12 are needed for a study on how sleep helps learning

Each cable is linked to a sensor placed on his scalp and face that measures the electrical activity in his brain as he sleeps.

Frank is part of a study being conducted by psychologists at the University of York looking at the link between sleep and learning.

The average human spends a third of their lives asleep – and yet no one is quite sure why. Suffice to say, if there wasn’t a good reason for it, then sleep must go down as one of evolution’s biggest mistakes.

Research has already shown the importance of sleep to immune health, for emotional well-being and brain chemistry.

At the university’s Sleep Learning and Memory Lab, researchers are interested in the link with learning. To this end they are actively recruiting local children aged between eight and 12 to take part in a range of studies to run over the next three years.

Parents of children with autism and youngsters with language development problems are especially welcome to take part because one area of interest is whether sleep issues contribute to their learning difficulties.

Natasha Thompson works with the research team and her sons have taken part in the research. Her eldest, Dylan, aged 15, has autism and took part in a pilot programme.

She said it was important other parents came forward to enable researchers to investigate further this fascinating field.

“To make any research viable, we need a large number of volunteers, so we want to get the message out to as many people as possible.”

To this end, the team have been in schools, addressing children in assemblies, and trying to reach local parents through the media.

“The issue of sleep resonates with a lot of parents as they know how important sleep is to a child,” adds Natasha.

Volunteers get to sleep in their own bed and are only “wired up” for one night during the experiment. The actual contact time with researchers is a bit more – five sessions in total, two of which can take place in school. On the day of the test, children are given some information, often some new words, to remember, and are tested on this the following day.

Researchers are measuring how well the children retain information, and how that result may be affected by the quality of their sleep.

Dr Victoria Knowland, from the research team, said: “In our new set of studies, we are taking the idea of the link between sleep and memory one step further, addressing practical questions such as: what is the optimal time in the day for children to learn? And, how can children use their existing knowledge to support the consolidation of new vocabulary?”

Researchers come into the family home to prepare the child for the experiment. In the evening, just before bedtime, they carefully place the sensors on the child, which have been earlier marked out using a special cap and pen. The sensors are attached using gel and medical tape which are easy to remove the next day. The wires link to a small box, the size of a hand, which can be kept under the pillow or on a loose belt around the child’s waist, in case they need to get up or visit the toilet in the night.

In the morning, researchers collect the equipment and speak to the child to see how well they have learned the information they were given the day before.

Parents can watch a video, find out more and sign up to take part online at york.ac.uk/sleepsmart They can also discuss the project in person by telephoning Natasha on 01904 324359.