The role of sleep in the retention and long-term maintenance of newly formed ability self-beliefs

Abstract

Sleep supports the consolidation of newly acquired information, however its role in the formation of self-beliefs has not yet been examined. Here, we investigated whether sleep facilitates the retention, stabilization, revision and long-term maintenance of newly formed ability beliefs. Using a Sleep vs. Wake between-subjects design (N=54), participants completed the Learning Of Own Performance (LOOP) task, which allowed them to form new positive and negative ability self-beliefs based on mocked feedback at a first session, and to revise them when encountering contradictory feedback at a second session. Belief formation was followed by either a sleep or wake retention interval. Belief states were tested at four time points: immediately after belief formation, after the 12-h retention interval, following the revision phase and after three weeks. Participants successfully formed and revised self-beliefs using the LOOP task. Compared with wakefulness, sleep following belief formation did not affect belief retention across the 12-h interval, nor did it stabilize beliefs against their revision. However, after three weeks, participants who slept after belief formation showed a shift towards more positivity for the initially formed low ability self-beliefs. Contrary to our hypotheses, sleep did not enhance short-term retention or stabilization of newly formed self-beliefs. However, the more positively recalled ability self-belief associated with the initially low-performance condition suggest that sleep may facilitate a positive long-term shift.