Chronotype and Time of Day Effects in Oddball Task Performance: Behavioural and Cerebral Correlates.

attention; chronotype; fMRI; fatigue; oddball task; synchrony effect; time of day; time on task; Medicine (all); Cognitive Neuroscience; Behavioral Neuroscience

Abstract :

[en] Circadian rhythms and inter-individual differences in sleep-wake preferences, or chronotypes, influence cognitive performance. The synchrony effect-the alignment of time of day with chronotype-modulates attention, memory, and executive control. This study examined behavioural and neural correlates of synchrony effects during an auditory oddball task performed in morning (1.5 h after wake-up) and evening (10.5 h after wake-up) sessions by extreme morning-type (n = 16) and evening-type (n = 15) young (age range: 22-32 y.o.) individuals. Behaviourally, no main, nor interaction effects of chronotype or time of day were observed for overall reaction time metrics (all p > 0.05). However, overall reaction times during the task were longer in the final third of the task in the evening compared to the morning session for morning but not evening types (p < 0.05). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed neural correlates underlying the synchrony effect: the inferior frontal cortex (IFC) showed higher task-related activation at optimal times (morning for morning types, evening for evening types, pcorr < 0.05), putatively reflecting enhanced top-down control. Conversely, a medial orbitofrontal region (mOFC), part of the default mode network, was more active at non-optimal times (pcorr < 0.05), consistent with reduced task engagement and internally directed processes. These findings suggest that synchrony effects interact with time-on-task-dependent effects with implications for sustained attention in real-world settings.

Research Center/Unit :

GIGA-SLEEP - GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging-Sleep and chronobiology - ULiège

Disciplines :

Neurology

Author, co-author :

Schmidt, Christina ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Neuropsychologie de l'adulte

Vandewalle, Gilles ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA Neurosciences - Sleep and chronobiology

Cajochen, Christian; Centre for Chronobiology, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Collette, Fabienne ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Neuropsychologie de l'adulte

Language :

English

Title :

Chronotype and Time of Day Effects in Oddball Task Performance: Behavioural and Cerebral Correlates.

Publication date :

15 June 2026

Journal title :

Journal of Sleep Research

ISSN :

0962-1105

eISSN :

1365-2869

Publisher :

John Wiley and Sons Inc, England

Pages :

e70391

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jsr.70391

Funders :

FRA - Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Maladie d'Alzheimer

Available on ORBi :

since 22 July 2026

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