Publication: Molecular insights into chronotype and time-of-day effects on decision-making
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2016
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Nature Publishing Group
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Abstract
Recent reports highlight that human decision-making is influenced by the time of day and whether one is a morning or evening person (i.e.,chronotype). Here,we test whether these behavioral effects are associated with endogenous biological rhythms. We asked participants to complete two well-established decision-making tasks in the morning or evening: the matrix task (an ethical decision task) and the balloon analog risk task (BART; a risk-taking task),and we measured their chronotype in two ways. First,participants completed a self-report measure,the Horne-Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). Second,we measured the expression of two circadian clock-regulated genes - Per3 and Nr1d2 - from peripheral clock cells in participants' hair follicle samples. Using a cosinor model,we estimated the phase of the peripheral clock and assigned RNA chronotypes to participants with advanced (larks) or delayed (owls) phases. The behavioral data were analyzed independently for self-reported (MEQ) and RNA-based chronotypes. We find that significant chronotype and/or time-of-day effects between larks and owls in decision-making tasks occur only in RNA-based chronotypes. Our results provide evidence that time-of-day effects on decision-making can be explained by phase differences in oscillating clock genes and suggest that variation in the molecular clockwork may influence inter-individual differences in decision-making behavior.
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Attribution 4,0 International
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IE Business School
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Ingram, K. K., Ay, A., Kwon, S. B., Woods, K., Escobar, S., Gordon, M., ... & Jain, K. (2016). Molecular insights into chronotype and time-of-day effects on decision-making. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 29-92.