Age - Related Deficits in Cognitive Functioning Are Not Mediated by Time of Day

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Abstract
Few studies have examined whether cognitive performance of adults is influenced by the time of day in which they are tested . It has been sug gested ( May , Hasher , & Zacks , 1993 ) that some of the reported age differences in performance may be attenuated when older adults are tested during their optimal time , and younger adults are tested during their nonoptimal time . A total of 100 adults ( 20 to 78 years of age ) participated in this study to investigate whether time of day and / or age are significant predictors of cognitive performance . Three tasks measur ing crystallized and fluid types of abilities were employed . Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that age was a significant predictor for two of the tasks , whereas time of day of testing did not predict performance for any of the three types of tasks . The results suggest that time of day influences may be limited to specific types of cognitive abilities .