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Diurnal variations in the mood and performance of highly practised young women living under strictly controlled conditions
Author(s) -
Owens Deborah S.,
MaCdonald Ian,
Tucker Philip,
Sytnik Natalia,
Totterdell Peter,
Minors David,
Waterhouse James,
Folkard Simon
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1348/000712600161664
Subject(s) - mood , psychology , daylight , diurnal temperature variation , circadian rhythm , core (optical fiber) , audiology , core temperature , demography , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , meteorology , medicine , telecommunications , geography , physics , neuroscience , sociology , optics , computer science
The diurnal variation in a range of psychological functions and core body temperature were investigated in a series of studies involving a total of 24 highly practised young women who lived in a controlled environment and on a strictly regimented 24‐hour routine for 6 or 7 days. Ten participants were exposed to the natural light/dark cycle (L/Dc) through windows, whereas the 14 remaining participants saw no daylight, but all had access to normal clock time. A battery of mood and performance tests was completed every 2 hours whilst awake (08:00‐00:00), resulting in nine equally spaced measures per waking day. Average time of day (ToD) functions were calculated from the last 5 or 6 days spent in the controlled environment. Significant ToD effects were found for many of the variables taken although the nature of these effects differed across measures, with a ‘post‐lunch’ dip being observed at 16:00 in some variables. Analysis of the standardized data established that all variables presented reliably different ToD functions to core body temperature, whilst factor analyses indicated possible relationships between the variables. It was concluded that those variables that exhibited diurnal variation showed trends that did not parallel those in core body temperature.