Is there synchrony effect for fluid intelligence in school setting?

Synchrony effect describes observation that people perform better in a test of fluid intelligence during times of day in accordance with their chronotype, i.e., in the morning in early types and afternoon in late types. Based... [ view full abstract ]

Synchrony effect describes observation that people perform better in a test of fluid intelligence during times of day in accordance with their chronotype, i.e., in the morning in early types and afternoon in late types. Based on this laboratory observation it was suggested to accommodate school schedules to students’ time of day preferences, but no studies tested ecological validity of the effect. In the presented crossover study four high school students groups completed Cattell’s Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFT), Dundee Stress State Questionnaire, Munich ChronoType Questionnaire during the first and the last class. The results indicated no effects of time of day (η_p²=.02), chronotype (η_p²=.01), and their interaction (η_p²=.03) on performance in CFT. There were also no effects of time of day, chronotype, and their interaction on task engagement (η_p²=.06, .01, .01, respectively), distress (η_p²=.00, .01, .00, respectively), and worry (η_p²=.04, .00, .02, respectively). The results indicate that synchrony effect for fluid intelligence may not appear in school setting. Scientific work financed from budgetary funds for science in the years 2016-2019 project number IP2015 026774.