Time-of-Day Effect in Response Bias in Working Memory and Cognitive Control Tasks

Abstract

Human cognitive performance varies greatly throughout the day. These time-of-day effects are thought to be the result of circadian and homeostatic rhythms that modulate neuronal arousal in different brain regions. Previous work has found variations in performance throughout the day across multiple cognitive domains (e.g., working memory, attention, cognitive control). To test the reliability of these effects, we conducted a meta-analysis of time of day and synchrony (performing at a time congruent with one's circadian preference, e.g. morning people in the morning) effects. Our meta-analysis revealed substantial publication bias in the literature, suggesting that these effects may be less reliable than they appear. We followed this up by investigating whether strategy or ability contribute more to time-of-day/synchrony effects using the signal detection parameters sensitivity and response bias. Sensitivity can be thought of as a measure of ability, while response bias measures strategy. Using the AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) and a change detection task we examined the effect of time of day on sensitivity and response bias in an exploratory analysis of a large dataset along with a better controlled follow-up experiment. We found a time-of-day effect in response bias but not sensitivity in the controlled experiment, but not in the large exploratory analysis., These results provide preliminary evidence that variations in cognitive performance throughout the day may result from differences in strategy rather than differences in ability.No embargoAcademic Major: NeuroscienceAcademic Major: Psycholog