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Cognition in older adults sharper early in the day
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Older adults tested for cognitive performance early in the day performed better than those tested in the afternoon, according to recent study findings.
“Time of day really does matter when testing older adults,” John A. E. Anderson, a PhD candidate with the department of psychology at the University of Toronto, said in a press release. “Their improved cognitive performance in the morning correlated with greater activation of the brain’s attentional control regions — the rostral prefrontal and superior parietal cortex — similar to that of younger adults.”
Anderson and colleagues conducted memory tests on 16 young adults (aged 19-30 years) and 16 older adults (aged 60-82 years) in the afternoon (from 1 to 5 p.m.), as well as 18 older adults in the morning (from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.) to determine the effect of time of day on cognition.
Memory tests involved word and picture combination recall as well as unrelated word and picture combinations for distraction. During testing, researchers scanned the participants’ brains with functional MRI to detect activated areas of the brain.
During the afternoon testing, older adults were 10% more likely to pay attention to distracting information compared with younger adults. However, older adults tested in the morning were able to block out distracting information similar to young adults tested in the afternoon.
Researchers added that older adults tested in the morning had the same brain activation areas — rostral prefrontal and superior parietal cortex — as young adults when ignoring distracting information.
“Our research is consistent with previous science reports showing that at a time of day that matches circadian arousal patterns, older adults are able to resist distraction,” study researcher Lynn Hasher, PhD, of the University of Toronto, said in the release.
Disclosure: See the full study for a complete list of the researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.