AO1

• Circadian rhythms are the biological rhythms that last for 24 hours.
• An example of a circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle.
• Siffre's case study - underground for 6 months, which allowed for his internal body clock to 'free run' and it settled in to a sleep/wake cycle of around 25 hours.
• Aschoff and Wever studied ppts living in a WW1 bunker for four weeks without any natural light. They found that their sleep wake cycle extended to 25 hours a day and one ppt 29 hours.
• Core body temperature - varies by 2 degrees during the course of the day, and evidence suggests that it may have an effect on our mental abilities; the warmer we are internally the better our cognitive performance.
• Folkard demonstrated how children who had stories read to them around 3pm showed superior recall and comprehension a week after, compared to children who heard the same stories at 9am.
• Gupta found improved performance on IQ test when ppts were assessed at 7pm as opposed to 2pm and 9am, showing body temperature may have an effect on ourmental abilities.