Are you a night owl or an early riser? Finding this out can help with testing and fraud

Experts point out that for important rhythms one of the secrets of success is listening to your internal clock.

Timing is everything. For both early risers and late sleepers, listening to your internal clock can be the key to success. From the classroom to the courtroom and beyond, people perform at their best on the most challenging tasks at a time of day that aligns with their circadian rhythm.

Circadian rhythms are powerful internal timers that guide a person’s physiological and intellectual functioning throughout the day. The peaks of these circadian rhythms vary from individual to individual.

Some people, known in some countries as “larks” or morning chronotypes, peak early and feel better in the morning. Others, known as “owls” or nocturnal chronotypes, peak in the late day and perform best in the late afternoon or evening.

And some people show neither morning nor evening preferences and are considered neutral chronotypes.

As a researcher looking for ways to improve cognitive function, I have explored whether chronotype affects mental performance. Understanding the types of mental processes that vary, or remain stable, over the course of a day can help people plan their activities to optimize performance.

Why your chronotype matters

Chronotype can be measured with a simple questionnaire that assesses aspects such as perceived alertness, preferred wake and sleep times, and performance during the day. Even without a questionnaire, most people know whether it is a lark, an owl, or something in between.

Do you wake up early without an alarm and feel excited? Are you mentally exhausted and ready to put on your pajamas at nine o’clock? If so, you’re probably an early riser. Do you sleep late and wake up tired and confused? Do you have more energy late at night? If so, you’re probably the night owl type.

People perform better at many demanding mental tasks – from paying attention and learning to problem solving and making complex decisions – when these actions are synchronized with their personal circadian peaks.

This is known as the synchronization effect. Whether you’re an air traffic controller scanning radar, a finance boss reviewing an earnings report, or a high school student studying chemistry, timing can affect your performance.

Much of the evidence for synchrony effects comes from laboratory studies testing larks and owls in the early morning and late in the day. People with strong chronotypes are more alert and able to maintain attention during peak hours compared to off-peak hours. Their memory is sharper, with better recall of lists and greater success in remembering “to-do” tasks, such as taking medications.

People are also less likely to mind wander and are less distracted at ideal times. For example, one study I conducted gave participants three keywords that were not directly related (such as “ship,” “outdoor,” and “strip”).

They were tasked with finding another word that connected the three (like “space”). When my team and I presented deceptive words alongside the key words (such as “ocean” for ship, “indoor” for outside, and “baby” for crawl), those who were tested synchronously were better at ignoring the misleading words and find the target solution.

Synchrony also influences higher-level cognitive functions such as persuasion, reasoning, and decision making. Consumer studies have found that people are more demanding, skeptical and analytical during peak hours. They invest more time and effort in assigned tasks and are more likely to search for important information. As a result, people make better investment decisions, are less prone to bias, and are more likely to spot fraud.

Outside of peak hours, people take longer to solve problems and tend to be less attentive and more dependent on mental shortcuts, making them more vulnerable to flashy marketing schemes. Ethical behavior can also be compromised at suboptimal times, as people are more likely to cheat during off-peak hours.

In the classroom and in the clinic

Basic mental skills that are affected by synchrony – including attention, memory and analytical thinking – are all skills that contribute to academic success. This connection is especially significant for teenagers, who tend to be night owls but typically start studying early.

One study randomly assigned more than 700 adolescents to early morning, late morning, or afternoon exams. Those considered owls scored lower than larks in the two morning sessions, but this disadvantage disappeared for owls who took the exam in the afternoon. Early start times can put owl students one step behind the larks.

The time of day may also be taken into consideration when performing evaluations for cognitive disorders such as attention deficit disorder or Alzheimer’s disease.

Time scheduling may be especially significant for older adults, who tend to be playful and often show greater synchrony effects than young adults.

Performance is better during peak hours on several important neuropsychological measures used to assess these conditions. Not considering synchrony can compromise the accuracy of diagnoses and, consequently, influence the eligibility of clinical trials and data on treatment effectiveness.

Of course, synchrony does not affect the performance of all tasks or all people. Simple, easy tasks, such as recognizing familiar faces or places, dialing the phone number of a close friend, or preparing a favorite recipe, are unlikely to change throughout the day. Furthermore, young adults who are neither larks nor owls show less variability in performance throughout the day.

For those who are early risers or night owls, tackling more difficult mental tasks at times that align with your personal circadian peaks can improve outcomes. When small improvements in performance provide a critical advantage, timing can be the secret to success.

*Cindimaggio is a professor of psychology at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, United States

**This article was published on The Conversation and reproduced here under a Creative Commons license. Click here to read the original English version.

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.