Authors: Schmidt, Christina¹; Collette, Fabienne¹; Cajochen, Christian²; Peigneux, Philippe³

Source: Cognitive Neuropsychology, Volume 24, Number 7, October 2007 , pp. 755-789(35)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

Although peaks and troughs in cognitive performance characterize our daily functioning, time-of-day fluctuations remain marginally considered in the domain of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology. Here, we attempt to summarize studies looking at the effects of sleep pressure, circadian variations, and chronotype on cognitive functioning in healthy subjects. The picture that emerges from this assessment is that beyond physiological variables, time-of-day modulations affect performance on a wide range of cognitive tasks measuring attentional capacities, executive functioning, and memory. These performance fluctuations are also contingent upon the chronotype, which reflects interindividual differences in circadian preference, and particularly upon the synchronicity between the individuals' peak periods of circadian arousal and the time of the day at which testing occurs. In themselves, these conclusions should direct both the clinician's and the researcher's attention towards the utmost importance to account for time-of-day parameters when assessing cognitive performance in patients and healthy volunteers.

Keywords: Time of day; Circadian; Chronotype; Cognitive performance; Ageing

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02643290701754158

Affiliations: 1: Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium,Department of Cognitive Science, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium 2: Centre for Chronobiology, Psychiatric University Clinics, Basel, Switzerland 3: UR2NF-Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium,Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

Publication date: 2007-10-01

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