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Relationship between alertness, performance, and body temperature in humansBody temperature has been reported to influence human performance. Performance is reported to be better when body temperature is high/near its circadian peak and worse when body temperature is low/near its circadian minimum. We assessed whether this relationship between performance and body temperature reflects the regulation of both the internal biological timekeeping system and/or the influence of body temperature on performance independent of circadian phase. Fourteen subjects participated in a forced desynchrony protocol allowing assessment of the relationship between body temperature and performance while controlling for circadian phase and hours awake. Most neurobehavioral measures varied as a function of internal biological time and duration of wakefulness. A number of performance measures were better when body temperature was elevated, including working memory, subjective alertness, visual attention, and the slowest 10% of reaction times. These findings demonstrate that an increased body temperature, associated with and independent of internal biological time, is correlated with improved performance and alertness. These results support the hypothesis that body temperature modulates neurobehavioral function in humans.
Document ID
20040088031
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Wright, Kenneth P Jr
(Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States)
Hull, Joseph T.
Czeisler, Charles A.
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 2002
Publication Information
Publication: American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology
Volume: 283
Issue: 6
ISSN: 0363-6119
Subject Category
Behavioral Sciences
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Non-NASA Center
NASA Discipline Regulatory Physiology

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