Task Performances as Functions of Level of Processing, Morningness-Eveningness, Time of Day, and Gender

This study was undertaken to examine the relations between human circadian activity patterns and information processing. Eighty subjects selected on the basis of gender and circadian type performed a digit-sequence task and an analogies task in either a morning or an afternoon condition, having previously completed the Horne and Ostberg (1976) circadian type questionnaire and the Schmeck (1983) Inventory of Learning Processes. A significant Gender x Circadian Type x Time-of-Day Condition interaction was found for digit-sequence task performance, with female subjects' performances exhibiting morning condition superiority for morning types but evening condition superiority for evening types. Time and gender effects were found for the analogies task such that better performances were exhibited in the afternoon condition and by the female subjects (respectively). Also, scores on the Schmeck Methodical Study scale were found to covary significantly with analogies task performance. These results were discussed in the context of past literature.