Daily fluctuations in attention at school considering starting time and chronotype: an exploratory study

Abstract

Interest to investigate daily fluctuations in cognitive tasks, so-called “school-rhythms”, lies in exploring the most favourable time-of-day for learning considering the analysis of variations in performance taking into account individual differences. The aim of this study was to describe daily fluctuations in attention at three different times of the school day, two different days, considering chronotype and three different school start times (08:00, 08:15 and 08:30 h). Participants were 669 adolescents aged 12–16. Sleep length and inductive reasoning were considered as covariates. In general, attention increased throughout the school day, boys reached higher attention than girls and, moreover, evening type boys reached higher attention than evening type girls. No differences between chronotypes were observed. When students were familiar with the task, chronotype, sex and time-of-day interactions seem to be important factors to consider.

• Adolescence
• attention
• daily fluctuations
• morningness/eveningness
• school performance
• school schedule