Influência da hora do dia sobre o desempenho cognitivo de escolares

Abstract

Adolescence is a marked by specific characteristics influenced by biological factors, such as those related to the action of hormones, and social, environment in which the adolescent that are insert. Adolescents tend to undergo changes in the sleep-wake cycle and behavioral changes during the day. Because school performance may differ between different times of the day. In order to determine if the time of the day affect cognitive function in schoolchildren, there we evaluate cognitive function of scholars in the morning and afternoon. Thirty-two students with a mean age of 13 years participated in this study. They answered a questionnaire and completed a battery of tests to verify cognitive ability. Data were compared between morning and afternoon time of the day in students by using Mann-Whitney test. Morning students have better scores in identification and naming tests and five-minute memory tests. We conclude that adolescents who study in the morning there are indications of better cognitive performance compared to students from afternoon time of day.