RecruitingNot ApplicableNCT07677111

Chronotype Alignment and Time Perception

Circadian Match and Mismatch Effects on Temporal Cognition in Morning- and Evening-Type Adults


Sponsor

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Enrollment

240 participants

Start Date

Sep 1, 2025

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Conditions

Summary

People differ in chronotype - whether they function best in the morning ("larks") or the evening ("owls"). This study asks whether the match or mismatch between a person's chronotype and the time of day at which they are tested changes how they perceive time. Healthy morning-type and evening-type adults at three sites (Aarhus, Denmark; Changzhou, China; and Hong Kong) complete the same battery of perception and cognition tasks twice - once in the early morning (about 08:00) and once late in the evening (about 22:00), in counterbalanced order. The primary outcome is the accuracy (signed bias) of time-perception judgements; the key comparison is the interaction between chronotype and time of day (the "synchrony effect"). Secondary measures include timing precision, the subjective passage of time, sleepiness, mood, colour perception (with and without blue-blocking glasses) and perceptual decision-making. By testing the same protocol across three cultures and latitudes, the study examines whether circadian match/mismatch effects on temporal cognition generalise across populations.


Eligibility

Min Age: 18 YearsMax Age: 55 Years

Inclusion Criteria6

  • Healthy adult, 18-40 years
  • Clear morning-type or evening-type on the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ-SA); intermediate types excluded (state exact cut-offs, e.g. evening-type 41 or below, morning-type 59 or above)
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity
  • Normal colour vision (e.g. Ishihara screening)
  • Fluent in the testing-site language (Danish, Chinese, or English)
  • Able to attend both an early-morning (about 08:00) and a late-evening (about 22:00) session

Exclusion Criteria7

  • Intermediate chronotype (MEQ in the middle band)
  • Night or rotating shift work in the past 3 months, or recent trans-meridian travel (more than 2 time zones in the past 4 weeks)
  • Diagnosed sleep disorder (e.g. insomnia, sleep apnoea)
  • Current psychiatric or neurological disorder
  • Use of sleep medication or psychoactive or CNS-active drugs
  • Colour-vision deficiency
  • Substance-use disorder

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Interventions

BEHAVIORALMorning test session (about 08:00)

Full perception and cognition battery administered shortly after habitual wake (about 08:00): time-perception tasks (interval production/estimation, duration discrimination, passage-of-time judgement), state measures (sleepiness, mood, arousal), colour tasks, a perceptual conformity task, and a vigilance task.

BEHAVIORALEvening test session (about 22:00)

The identical battery administered late in the evening (about 22:00), enabling within-participant comparison of the same measures at the two times of day.


Locations(1)

Child Development Centre

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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NCT07677111


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