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May CP, Hasher L, Healey K. For Whom (and When) the Time Bell Tolls: Chronotypes and the Synchrony Effect. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023; 18:1520-1536. [PMID: 37369064 DOI: 10.1177/17456916231178553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
Circadian rhythms are powerful timekeepers that drive physiological and intellectual functioning throughout the day. These rhythms vary across individuals, with morning chronotypes rising and peaking early in the day and evening chronotypes showing a later rise in arousal, with peaks in the afternoon or evening. Chronotype also varies with age from childhood to adolescence to old age. As a result of these differences, the time of day at which people are best at attending, learning, solving analytical problems, making complex decisions, and even behaving ethically varies. Across studies of attention and memory and a range of allied areas, including academic achievement, judgment and decision-making, and neuropsychological assessment, optimal outcomes are found when performance times align with peaks in circadian arousal, a finding known as the synchrony effect. The benefits of performing in synchrony with one's chronotype (and the costs of not doing so) are most robust for individuals with strong morning or evening chronotypes and for tasks that require effortful, analytical processing or the suppression of distracting information. Failure to take the synchrony effect into consideration may be a factor in issues ranging from replication difficulties to school timing to assessing intellectual disabilities and apparent cognitive decline in aging.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lynn Hasher
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
| | - Karl Healey
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University
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Vidueira VF, Booth JN, Saunders DH, Sproule J, Turner AP. Circadian preference and physical and cognitive performance in adolescence: A scoping review. Chronobiol Int 2023; 40:1296-1331. [PMID: 37781788 DOI: 10.1080/07420528.2023.2256901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Adolescence is a crucial period of development which coincides with changes in circadian rhythmicity. This may augment the impact of circadian preference on performance in this group. We aimed to scope the literature available on chronotypes and their effect on physical and mental aspects of performance in adolescents. Studies were identified by systematically searching bibliographical databases and grey literature. The Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire was the most frequently reported tool for circadian preference assessment. Academic achievement was the most prevailing outcome, with evidence suggesting that morning type adolescents tend to outperform evening types, yet the results vary depending on multiple factors. Performance in tests of intelligence and executive functions was generally better at optimal times of the day (synchrony effect). Physical performance was examined in 8 studies, with very heterogeneous outcomes. Although the associations between circadian preference and performance in adolescents are evident in some areas, there are many factors that may be involved in the relationship and require further investigation. This review highlights the assessment of physical performance in relation to chronotypes, the multidimensional assessment of circadian preference, and the need for longitudinal studies as priorities for further research.Protocol: OSF Registration - Public registration, DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/UCA3Z.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa F Vidueira
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences (ISPEHS), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Josie N Booth
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, Institute for Education, Community and Society (IECS), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - David H Saunders
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences (ISPEHS), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - John Sproule
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences (ISPEHS), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Anthony P Turner
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences (ISPEHS), Human Performance Science Research Group, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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Balcı Ö, Çalışkan M. Investigation of the relationship between chronotype, learning style and academic achievement of university students during distance education in the pandemic period. Chronobiol Int 2022; 39:858-871. [PMID: 35176946 DOI: 10.1080/07420528.2022.2041658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between chronotype, learning style, and academic achievement. The study sample consisted of 1884 volunteer undergraduate students from 58 different universities across Turkey. The data were collected online during distance education because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Turkish version of Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and Big16 Learning Modality Inventory were used for data collection. The correlation between chronotype and cumulative grade point average (CGPA) scores was analyzed using Spearman's rho, and differences among the chronotypes were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis test. Chi-square tests with pairwise z-test were used to analyze the relationships between the participants' learning style preferences and chronotypes. Also, ANCOVA analyses were performed to evaluate the interactions of gender × chronotype and gender × learning style on CGPA scores. The results revealed that participants' preference for visual and auditory styles differed by chronotype. Visual learning style was more dominant among morning (M) types, while auditory style was more dominant among evening (E) types. However, the most preferred learning style was visual, followed by auditory and kinesthetic styles for all chronotypes. No relationship was found between chronotype and academic achievement. The CGPA scores of the participants with kinesthetic learning style were lower than the participants with auditory and visual learning styles. The female participants had higher CGPA score than males. However, the CGPA scores did not differ for both male and female participants with different chronotype and learning style preferences. From the results, we suggest that academic achievement can be enhanced by consideration of students' learning style preferences for all chronotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Özgül Balcı
- School of Foreign Languages, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
| | - Muhittin Çalışkan
- Ahmet Keleşoğlu Faculty of Education, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
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Ujma PP, Kirkegaard EOW. The overlapping geography of cognitive ability and chronotype. Psych J 2021; 10:834-846. [PMID: 34423580 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Chronotype and cognitive ability are two human phenotypes with an uneven geographic distribution due to both selective migration and causal environmental effects. In our study, we aimed to examine the relationship between geographic variables, cognitive ability and chronotype. We used a large anonymized sample (n = 25,700, mostly from the USA, UK, Canada and Australia) of dating site users to estimate chronotype and cognitive ability from questionnaire responses using item response theory. We matched each user to geographic coordinates and city size using the reported locations and geographic databases. In line with previous research we found that male sex, younger age, residence in a more populous locale, higher cognitive ability and more westward position within the same time zone were associated with later chronotype. Male sex, younger age, residence in a more populous locale, later chronotype and higher latitude were associated with higher cognitive ability, but the effect of population on chronotype and latitude on cognitive ability was only present in the USA. The relationship between age and chronotype was stronger in males, and the relationship between chronotype and cognitive ability was stronger in males and in older participants. Population density had an independent association with cognitive ability, but not chronotype. Our results confirm the uneven geographic distribution of chronotype and cognitive ability. These findings generalize across countries, but they are moderated by age and sex, suggesting both biological and cultural effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Péter Przemyslaw Ujma
- Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
- National Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, Budapest, Hungary
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Abstract
A large number of previous studies reported a link between circadian preference and psychometric intelligence with mixed results and various hypotheses about the source of this correlation. In this study, we aimed to update a previous meta-analysis about the correlation between circadian preference and intelligence. Our literature search identified a large number of new studies, resulting in an increase of over 100% in the number of studies and over 400% in the number of involved participants (total k = 30, total N = 11160) over the previous meta-analysis, sampling a much wider age range from children to adults in late middle age. Our meta-analysis revealed no significant link between morningness and intelligence (r = -0.008) when the entire sample was studied, and no evidence for publication bias. This overall effect, however, obscured the moderating effect of age. The morningness-intelligence correlation decreased with mean sample age (R2 = 54%), ranging from a non-significant positive trend in children and adolescents to a significant negative correlation after young adulthood. Eveningness was positively correlated with intelligence (r = 0.056), but this finding is based on a more age-restricted sample and only reached significance with some model specifications. We hypothesize that the age-moderated correlation between circadian preference and intelligence reflects social effects, where more intelligent individuals are more able to adjust their daily schedules to their natural circadian rhythm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Péter P Ujma
- Semmelweis University, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.,National Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, Budapest, Hungary
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Scherrer V, Preckel F. Circadian preference and academic achievement in school-aged students: a systematic review and a longitudinal investigation of reciprocal relations. Chronobiol Int 2021; 38:1195-1214. [PMID: 33980088 DOI: 10.1080/07420528.2021.1921788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
We provide a systematic review of findings on the relation between circadian preference and school achievement published after the last comprehensive review in 2015. We further test this relation in a longitudinal study. Our review of 26 studies revealed a positive relation between morningness and students' school achievement, and a negative relation between eveningness and school achievement. In most studies, these relations were not affected by students' age, sex, or intelligence, but were significantly mediated by students' conscientiousness, motivation, and sleep behavior. Furthermore, circadian preference and school achievement showed no significant relation when school started in the afternoon. All studies were cross-sectional. Therefore, the direction of the relations between circadian preference, school achievement, and potential mediating variables like conscientiousness and motivation could not be investigated. In our longitudinal study, we tested the direction of the relations between circadian preference, academic achievement, conscientiousness, self-efficacy, and attitude toward school over time in a sample of 764 German high school students who were tested in the first (T1) and third (T2) year of high school. Findings from confirmatory cross-lagged models indicated reciprocal relations between circadian preference and school achievement: T1 morningness positively predicted change in grade point average over time while T1 grade point average positively predicted change in morningness and negatively predicted change in eveningness. Furthermore, T1 conscientiousness and T1 attitude toward school both positively predicted change in morningness, whereas T1 morningness and T1 eveningness did not significantly predict change in these variables.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Franzis Preckel
- Department of Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany
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Borgio JG, Louzada FM. The mediating effect of conscientiousness on the academic consequences of social jetlag. Chronobiol Int 2021; 38:624-628. [PMID: 33472445 DOI: 10.1080/07420528.2021.1873800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Social jetlag (SJL) causes impairment of academic achievement; on the other hand, the personality factor of conscientiousness is related to better grades. We evaluated the impact of conscientiousness on the academic consequences of social jetlag. Undergraduate students (n = 556) were evaluated throughout their first 3 years of university education. Conscientiousness, as a mediating factor in the structural equation modeling, explained 20% of the effect of SJL on academic achievement. This is the first cohort study to evaluate the mediating effect of personality on the consequences of SJL.
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Ujma PP, Bódizs R, Dresler M. Sleep and intelligence: critical review and future directions. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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The relationship between chronotype and intelligence: the importance of work timing. Sci Rep 2020; 10:7105. [PMID: 32345987 PMCID: PMC7188801 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-62917-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Sleep-wake patterns show substantial biological determination, but they are also subject to individual choice and societal pressure. Some evidence suggests that high IQ is associated with later sleep patterns. However, it is unclear whether the relationship between IQ and later sleep is due to biological or social effects, such as the timing of working hours. We investigated the association between habitual sleep timing during work days and work-free days, working time and membership in Mensa, an organization of highly intelligent individuals (IQ ≥130) using a sample of 1,172 adults split between Mensa members and age- and sex-matched volunteers from a large web-based database. We found no difference in chronotype, and the later sleep timing of Mensa members on work days was fully accounted for by later work start times. Our results indicate that later sleep timing in those with higher IQs is not due to physiological differences, but rather due to later work schedules. Later working times and the resulting lower social jetlag may be one of the reasons why higher IQ is associated with lower prospective morbidity and mortality.
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Gorgol J, Stolarski M, Matthews G. On the moderating role of chronotype on the association between IQ and conscientiousness: the compensation effect occurs only in Evening-types. BIOL RHYTHM RES 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/09291016.2018.1526483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Gorgol
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Gerald Matthews
- Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
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