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dc.contributor.authorWalters, Elizabeth R.*
dc.contributor.authorLesk, Valerie E.*
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-24T10:56:55Z
dc.date.available2016-03-24T10:56:55Z
dc.date.issued2015-03
dc.identifier.citationWalters ER and Lesk VE (2015) Time of day and caffeine influence some neuropsychological tests in the elderly. Psychological Assessment. 27(1): 161-168.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10454/8006
dc.descriptionYesen_US
dc.description.abstractWe report that performance on neuropsychological tests used in the diagnosis of dementia can be influenced by external factors such as time of day (TOD) and caffeine. This study investigates TOD effects on cognitive performance in the elderly. The optimal TOD at which an individual is at their maximal arousal alters with age and in the elderly typically occurs in the morning. Neuropsychological test scores from healthy elderly participants were analysed to determine whether TOD affected performance. Interactions between caffeine and TOD were also investigated. Across two data sets that were analysed, significant TOD effects were noted for Pattern Comparison Speed (PCS), Letter Comparison Speed (LCS), Trail Making Test Part A, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Graded Naming Test (GNT), revealing a decline in test scores as TOD increases. Significant interactions between TOD, age and the PCS, LCS and Trail Making part A were noted in data set one. In data set two, where caffeine intake had been controlled for, significant interactions between caffeine, TOD and scores on the MMSE and GNT were found. The TOD and caffeine effects highlight the need to control for these external factors when scoring the assessments. This conclusion has implications for the clinical procedure of diagnosis and treatment of dementia and Alzheimer’s.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights© 2015 American Psychological Association. Full-text reproduced in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.en_US
dc.subjectTime of day; Caffeine; Neuropsychological testing; Aging; Alzheimer’s diseaseen_US
dc.titleTime of day and caffeine influence some neuropsychological tests in the elderlyen_US
dc.status.refereedYesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.type.versionfinal draft paperen_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1037/a0038213
refterms.dateFOA2018-07-25T14:21:52Z
dc.date.accepted2014-08-04


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